AP - Bill Lester doesn't want to be a footnote in history. Instead of being remembered as the first black driver to qualify for a race in NASCAR's top stock car series in nearly 20 years, Lester would prefer to be thought of as "just a race car driver."

AP - Darian Grubb was happier when he was an anonymous team engineer for NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson.

AP - Jimmie Johnson took advantage of a late-race caution flag Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, catching and passing Matt Kenseth in a two-lap overtime sprint to the finish in the NASCAR Nextel Cup UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.

AP - Even though Jay Leno messed up a big piece of his family history, Thomas B. Mudd still is one of the late-night talk show host's biggest fans.

AP - Jimmie Johnson is not Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire or Marion Jones or Lance Armstrong. If there's an asterisk to be put next to tainted accomplishments, don't include Johnson and his Daytona 500 victory.

AP - Maybe Jimmie Johnson didn't need to cheat to win his first Daytona 500. Johnson won a two-lap shootout Sunday to claim the victory, capping a roller-coaster week that saw NASCAR kick his crew chief out of competition for cheating.

AP - Jimmie Johnson won a two-lap shootout Sunday to claim his first Daytona 500 victory, capping a roller-coaster week that saw NASCAR kick his crew chief out of competition for cheating.

AP - Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading halfway through the Daytona 500 on Sunday, five years after his father died on the final lap of the same season-opening race.

AP - Jimmie Johnson's crew chief was thrown out of the Daytona 500 on Monday for illegal modifications made to Johnson's car during qualifying.

AP - Winning the pole for the Daytona 500 has always carried a bit of mystique.

AP - While Dale Earnhardt Jr. would just as soon forget last season, the lessons he learned have him anxious to start this season. Right now, his confidence is soaring.

AP - In at least one way, Dale Earnhardt may have been irreplaceable. Kevin Harvick, who stepped into his seat at Richard Childress Racing the week after the seven-time champion died in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500, says no one has been able to replace Earnhardt as a voice for the drivers in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage area.

AP - Roger Staubach is starting to get that adrenaline rush in anticipation of a new season. Only this time it's a different game. The quarterback who won two Super Bowls in the 1970s with the Dallas Cowboys is the co-owner of a first-year NASCAR team.

Reuters - "Don't quit your day job" is the popular advice for would-be singers trying to break into the music business in Nashville.