by Larry McReynolds

NASCAR on FOX: California Sunday 11 a.m. ET: NASCAR This Morning on SPEED 1/1:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live! on SPEED 2 p.m. ET: Nextel Cup race on FOX 8 p.m. ET: NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED 9 p.m. ET: Wind Tunnel on SPEED Photo Gallery... PHOTOS: Daytona 500 Also... Ad watch: Daytona commercials Analysis... WALTRIP: Worn out, but worth it CROSSMAN: SPENCER: BEHRENDT:

Larry McReynolds: In the Daytona 500 Victory Lane, NASCAR on FOX pit reporter Matt Yocum acknowledged aero specialst Steve Bergh, and Bergh's contributions to the 24 team's Daytona 500 winning effort. Yocum said, "Six months ago, [Bergh] sat down with a piece of paper and came up with 28 different things that he wanted the Hendrick team to try on this race car. And they did it. It's now going to go to Daytona USA."

As a broadcast group, we know we have to spotlight the drivers. They are the quarterbacks, and everyone tunes in to learn about them. But we are going to continue to try to spotlight people on the race teams because they really are the people who make the difference, especially at a place like Daytona and Talladega where equipment is so important.

Teams started preparing for the Daytona 500 before the 2004 season ended. Your engineers and body fabricators are working on it. At Richard Childress Racing, one person's only job was to work year-round on the 31 team's speedway bodies. When we went to Daytona with the 2000 Monte Carlo, nobody could run fast with it. Chevrolet lobbied NASCAR for help and some concessions. Unfortunately for the manufacturer but fortunately for our team, we qualified fourth, and the next closest Chevrolet was 17th or 18th.

Why do people like Bergh and my former RCR co-worker only work on aero or speedway bodies? Is it because they get a big old paycheck every two weeks? No, it's because they have a huge passion for what they're doing. And Yocum, Steve Byrnes, Dick Berggren and Jeanne Zelasko do a good job of searching out these people and telling their stories about them as time allows.

Junior's new plate strategy

Mike from Indianapolis, Ind.:Do you think Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s "biding his time" strategy during the Daytona 500 hurt his chances of winning? He drove up out of nowhere with a few laps left. What do you think of how he drove in the 2005 Daytona 500?

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Larry McReynolds: I was a little bit surprised by Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s strategy. Whether it's Senior or Junior, it's not a typical Earnhardt strategy. But it all started in Saturday's Busch race, and he didn't end up winning either one of the races.

It was very unusual. When he was sitting back in the field with 25 or 30 laps to go, I thought the 8 team had just missed it. After qualifying, they showed some signs of strength over the course of the week, especially in the 150s, and I wonder whether he may be second-guessing that strategy. The crew continued to work on the car because he didn't have as good a race car early in the race as he had at the end. Then he had all kinds of issues, like sitting sideways on pit road at one point. It was definitely a roller-coaster day.

While he wishes he had won a second consecutive Daytona 500, the bottom line is he finished third. He led a lap so he got a good start in the point standings in his quest for his first Nextel Cup championship.

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FOX race analyst Larry McReynolds has more than 25 years of NASCAR experience as a mechanic, crew chief and broadcaster. He and his fellow Crew Chief Club members take you behind the wall at www.crewchiefclub.com.

"Larry McReynolds: The Big Picture" is on bookstore shelves now, or you may order your own autographed copy from www.DWStore.com.