For everyone but the Daytona 500 champ, it's a new day in Cali.
For the 42 NASCAR race teams that didn't win last Sunday, the euphoria of the Daytona 500 ended at the finish line.
Now it's time to get back to work.
As the only professional sport that starts its season with its premier event, NASCAR still has nine months of racing left. For the teams that didn't win the Daytona 500, the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway is a chance to get back on track. For Daytona winner Ryan Newman, the celebration could last for weeks.
After spending months - and millions of dollars - preparing for one race, the Sprint Cup Series now embarks on the rest of the 36-race schedule. Daytona might receive most of the attention, but the winner of Sunday's race at California will receive the same number of points toward the championship as Newman.
Most drivers like starting with the biggest race. They also like getting back to work a week later.
"That's what makes the first week of the Daytona 500 so great, is everybody has a chance at the championship," said Kevin Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 winner. "Everybody is rejuvenated and refreshed from the year before. That's why it's the Super Bowl of our sport.
"You can't have every team in the NFL hyped and excited that they can win the Super Bowl when the Super Bowl only has two teams in it. Our sport is unique in the fact that our first race is the Daytona 500, and everybody has a chance of winning the championship. Your biggest race is on the first week. There's a lot of hype."
Now it's all work.
Daytona required unique rules, making it an anomaly on the schedule. Cars in Sunday's race won't have the same engine or aerodynamic restrictions. But the approach never changes.
"For us, the real season started last week," Jeff Gordon said after finishing 39th at Daytona. "We just weren't a part of it. It's going to be important for us to get things turned around soon and make sure we get ourselves back solid up in the points. Also, work on being competitive to win races. We were right there where we needed to be at Daytona, but it's a perfect example if you're not around to finish, it doesn't matter. That was disappointing."
After breaking a piece of the suspension and finishing 14 laps behind Newman, Gordon said he's relieved to get away from Daytona.
"It's easier to shift gears after you finish 39th. It might be a little harder for Ryan Newman. Those guys are still celebrating the victory. You want to savor that moment as long as you possibly can," Gordon said.
"Coming out of there with a bad finish, we're already putting it behind us and ready to focus on California. What we also want to do is not have the same issue that we had in Daytona. We've come out of Daytona with bad finishes before. This is not the end of the world."
In 2006, Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 and parlayed that success into his first Cup Series championship. In the past 49 years, eight winners of the Daytona 500 went on to win the series championship.
At the same time, Tony Stewart finished 43rd at Daytona in 2002, and he went on to win the championship.
The winged car makes the move away from Daytona even more interesting. The car was used on short tracks and road courses a year ago.
Now they will be used on every track.
"This is the first time we will see the new car and how it reacts on an intermediate race track," said Jamie McMurray's crew chief, Larry Carter. "Last season, we tested at a couple, but we were never able to see what it's like when you have all 43 cars on the track."
Harvick said Daytona always will be a season within a season. Teams spent a month testing and practicing for that race. They will spend hours preparing for other races.
"I think the greatest thing about our sport is you start the season and everybody has high expectations," Kevin Harvick said. "Some people have new sponsors. You have new uniforms, new cars. Everything is new, and the optimism is high."
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