Gordon to a backup car for Daytona 500

Jeff Gordon was involved in an accident in the first Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway when #51-Waltrip had a tire go down, causing #78-Smith to slow and Gordon's Chevy hit Smith's car, doing damage to the nose of the #24 car. The team will go to a backup car for the Daytona 500. #24 Crew Chief Steve Letarte reports: "The nose is pushed up and we sent our Shootout car that we wrecked on the last lap (Saturday night) home, and they've already repaired that, so that car is as good as new. So we're better off just bringing that car out. So the Shootout car has already been back to the shop and been repaired and come back down." SO THE DECISION IS MADE TO GO TO THE BACK-UP? "Yeah, it's not worth it. You've worked all month long to try to win the Daytona 500 and we're not going to beat the side out and mud it and just try to go for 20 spots on the grid. If you can't win from 43rd but you could have won from 20th, you didn't have a chance anyway." GM Racing