Qualifying setups plague some at Daytona

Boris Said and AJ Allmendinger dropped to the back of the field to start Saturday night's race at Daytona International Speedway.

Jon Wood took the green flag, then drove straight to his garage.


They were among a handful of drivers who made the 43-car field, but faced an uphill battle because they were forced to stick with qualifying setups for the Coke Zero 400. It was a calculated decision that got them into the race and gave them a chance to earn some much-needed points, but it also left them little chance to do much at NASCAR's most famous track because no changes could be made between qualifying and the race.

Wood didn't even bother to try to keep up. He drove his No. 21 Ford to the garage after the first lap for major changes. He eventually got back on the track but was eight laps down and well out of contention.

Allmendinger had even worse luck. He blew a right-front tire on lap 20, hit the wall and then watched his No. 84 Toyota get towed to the garage for good.

The rest of the "go-or-go-home" drivers -- Said, Joe Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, Patrick Carpentier, Sterling Marlin and Jon Wood -- also struggled early in the race. Nemechek and Sauter started fourth and fifth, respectively, but quickly found themselves near the back of the pack.

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BIG-NAME BUSTS: Several big-name drivers found trouble at Daytona, an all-too-common occurrence at the 21/2-mile superspeedway.

Ryan Newman, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, got spun by Jamie McMurray early. Pole-sitter Paul Menard got his right-rear fender taped drastically to repair body damage.

Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked into each other and brushed the wall on lap 70, and both cars ended up in the garage for major repairs.

Even Cup Series points leader Kyle Busch had trouble. Busch saved a potential wreck on lap 83 after his car wiggled through a turn, then he dropped to the back of the field and complained that his steering wheel was misaligned -- a major issue when drivers are trying to keep their cars straight at nearly 200 mph.

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COSTNER VISITS: Actor Kevin Costner was an honorary starter for the Coke Zero 400 and also performed a pre-race concert with his band, "Modern West."

Although Costner has starred in several sports movies -- "American Flyers," "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams," "Tin Cup" and "For Love of the Game" -- he said his trip to Daytona probably wouldn't inspire him to tackle a NASCAR-related film.

"The best movies are about men and women," Costner said. "When somebody makes a great movie that involves NASCAR, trust me, it will be about a man and a woman set against the backdrop of your sport. If it's a great movie, you'll feel the texture of your sport. If it's an average movie, you'll get what's obvious about your sport.

"I would be very cautious about a movie about NASCAR because it's not in my DNA. I think that for those who could love a movie the most, they would fall in love with the details of a NASCAR movie, set against the background of a man and woman who just can't seem to get along."