Friday, February 18, 2005 Of the 43 starters for Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 Presented by Skip Barber Racing, 13 (30%) are Skippy grads.

I’ve taken the liberty of “asterisk-ing” those guys…

Enjoy the race!

Daytona 500 starting lineup:

1) Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 47.793sec/188.312mph
2) * Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 47.829/188.170
3) Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Chevrolet
4) Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet
5) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet
6) * Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet
7) Mike Skinner, No. 23 Dodge
8) Kevin Lepage, No. 37 Patron Tequila Dodge
9) Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge
10) Martin Truex, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
11) Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft Ford
12) Scott Riggs, No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet
13) Kurt Busch, No. 97 Sharpie/Irwin Ford
14) Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Tools Ford
15) * Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet
16) Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge
17) Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Havoline Dodge
18) Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge
19) Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet
20) * Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
21) Kenny Wallace, No. 00 Aaron’s Chevrolet
22) Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet
23) Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard Ford
24) * Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
25) Travis Kvapil, No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Dodge
26) Jeff Green, No. 43 Cheerios Dodge
27) Carl Edwards, No. 99 Scott’s Ford
28) Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet
29) Casey Mears, No. 41 Target Dodge
30) Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet
31) * Ken Schrader, No. 49 Schwan’s Dodge
32) Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford
33) * Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia-Pacific Dodge
34) * Super Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet
35) Mike Bliss, No. 0 NetZero Chevrolet
36) Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge
37) * Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
38) Dave Blaney, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet
39) Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&Ms Ford
40) * Jason Leffler, No. 11 FedEx Chevrolet, 47.945/187.715
41) * Boris Said, No. 36 Centrix Chevrolet, 48.097/187.122
42) * John Andretti, No. 14 VB/APlus Ford, 48.303/186.324
43) * Mike Wallace, No. 4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 48.411/185.908

Jimmie Johnson, on the front row, leads a pack of 13 Skip Barber Racing graduates on the starting grid of the 2005 Daytona 500.

Rick Roso