Sunday's 50th running of the Daytona 500 was a day of firsts for the Penske team at the Daytona International Speedway.

Ryan Newman won his first Daytona 500 with a first-place finish ahead of his teammate, Kurt Busch, who was second. Newman's win snapped an 81-race losing streak for the driver. His last victory was in New Hampshire in September 2005.

Sunday's victory also marked owner Roger Penske's first win at the Daytona 500.

Penske is the most successful owner in open wheel history, having won 14 Indianapolis 500 titles, but it took him 23 years to win the Daytona 500.

"We did something very special for the Captain tonight," Busch said.

Tony Stewart, who led the race in the final laps until Newman and Busch moved in front of him in the final stretch, finished third. Stewart, who was competing in his 10th Daytona 500, has never won the race.

"I just made the wrong decision on the backstretch," Stewart said. "My intention was to get in front of Kyle (Busch) and pull Kyle along with us. It's hard to explain. It's probably one of the most disappointing moments in my racing career."

Kyle Busch, who led for a race-high 86 laps in the 200-lap, 500-mile race, finished fourth.

The Hendrick Motorsports team entered the Great American Race among the top contenders, but the team's top finisher was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was ninth. Casey Mears was in the running late in the race until he got bumped and was forced out of contention. Jimmie Johnson, who won the pole for Sunday's race, finished 27th.

The race had 16 different leaders and 42 lead changes. It also had seven cautions.

To commemorate the race's 50th running, the Daytona 500 honored former winners Sunday. The former champions collectively gave the command for the current drivers to start their engines, and Richard Petty officially started the race by dropping the green flag.