Some drivers go home early at Daytona

A total of 17 drivers, and their sponsors, did not make the Daytona 500. Former 500 winners Derrike Cope and Bill Elliott missed the show. Ward Burton, trying to make a comeback, is out. And Paul Menard is on the sidelines, who was trying to put three DEI cars in the race.

The new Toyota Team Red Bull duo of A.J. Allmendinger and Brian Vickers will be forced to watch Sunday's race from home.

Another Toyota team, Bill Davis Racing, also came up short. While Dave Blaney has the team's No. 22 Camry in the 500 based on last year's owners' points, Jeremy Mayfield and Mike Skinner came up short in their bid to give Davis three entries in Sunday's race.

Mike Bliss in the No. 49, BAM Racing Dodge, lost a race to the line on the last lap of race number one with Boris Said. Said, 12th in the race, edged Bliss at the line by inches. "I feel like I want to cry," a dejected Bliss said afterward.