It’s an entirely different world now.

First went Jeff Gordon. Then Tony Stewart. Then Carl Edwards stunned everyone by walking away a month before the season began and just three months after he came heartbreakingly close to winning the championship. Now Dale Earnhardt Jr. is packing his bags to leave NASCAR .

All have their own reasons, but the nation’s biggest auto racing series could be a victim of its own popularity. With millions on the table from sponsorships, prize money and merchandise, drivers can afford to walk away a decade earlier than the old days from a schedule that chews up 38 weeks a year.

The entire industry was getting rich behind fat sponsorships and huge television deals, and the packed grandstands certainly helped. When Earnhardt announced Tuesday that he was retiring at the end of the year, Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage knew the immediate effect it would have on his gate.

”Dang it! Dale Jr. put my kids through college and I was hoping he would stick around long enough to send my grandkids to college,” Gossage said.

The money made the last 20 years in NASCAR is just one reason drivers can walk away earlier than before without having to worry about their next meal. Brian Scott pulled the plug on his journeyman career at the end of last year to spend more time with his growing family. Greg Biffle would rather sit on the sidelines this year than take a ride with a low-end team. And Edwards? No one really understands his decision after he came 10 laps away from the title.

Gordon, with a bad back, had a chance to move into the television booth and spend more time with his kids. Stewart, physically and mentally drained after three years of upheaval, wanted his life to involve more than just NASCAR. Earnhardt wanted to be able to walk away when he wanted to, not when a doctor told him his next concussion would be one too many.

Earnhardt will turn 43 in October and he’s a newlywed who is just now learning that two-week vacations in Hawaii are pretty sweet. Stewart earlier this year vacationed with his extended family for probably the first time in his professional career.

Earnhardt touched on the demands of the NASCAR schedule before the season, when he noted that he was doing nearly 90 sponsor or team commitments in addition to 38 races.

”Back in the `70s and `80s, when guys were racing into their 50s, they were running 28 races and had a lot of time off,” Earnhardt told The Associated Press in February. ”They didn’t have sponsor responsibilities. Ninety days of work off the track? What was Bobby Allison doing in `83 with Miller? Twelve days off the track, maybe? They had a lot of time to do what they wanted to do to unplug and keep their battery charged.”

He was asked about the schedule during his retirement announcement, but dismissed as hypothetical the idea that 10 fewer races might have led him to a different decision. He admitted he is jealous of the 33-race Xfinity Series schedule, but doesn’t envision a scenario in which NASCAR can cut from the Cup calendar.

”Some of the drivers might want to cut a few races off the schedule, but I don’t ever see that happening,” he said. ”We get out of the car for a couple months, the month of December and January, and we talk about, `Man, that was a long season,”’

No matter how much money is in the bank, or how much free time they have on their hands, the call of the track remains. Gordon ran the 24 Hours of Daytona in January. Stewart has a packed sprint car schedule, spinning around on little dirt tracks far off the beaten path. Earnhardt plans to race in two Xfinity races next year.

”Any of those drivers, even though they’re glad to be off, would love to strap in one and just go race somewhere,” Earnhardt said. ”It don’t last long before that feeling that you need some time off. You’re ready to get back at it. I think it’s a part of the competition and the competitor inside you, but it’s also because we’re all a family.”

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Johnson led a career-best 346 laps Sunday and pulled away on a restart with eight laps to go for his eighth career victory on the shortest track in the Sprint Cup Series, taking over third place on the career victories list on NASCAR’s oldest track.

The only drivers ahead of him? Hall of famers Richard Petty with 15 wins, and Darrell Waltrip with 11.

“Probably the most calm, relaxed thought-out weekend that we’ve ever had as the 48 (team),” Johnson said.

From the time he rolled his car onto the track for the first practice Friday until the final restart, Johnson had a dominant car, and knew it. And with his track record here, even when things seemed to take a bad turn, he and his team trusted history.

“We stuck to our game plan and knew what we wanted to have in the race and stayed patient, and it was tough to do at times, but it certainly worked out well,” the five-time series champion said. “And in the race, we had to adjust on the fly.”

No team does it better at Martinsville, and while Johnson said the final caution came at an inopportune time because he’d built a big lead over Clint Bowyer, he also realized it may have saved him from having to fight off teammate Jeff Gordon.

“Jeff on the long run probably had the car to beat,” he said. “Jeff has a really good line here on the long run, and he started catching me before the last caution and I was thinking, ‘Man, if this stays green, this could be a Jeff Gordon day.”

Instead, the caution flew on lap 487.

Johnson picked the inside line for the final restart with Bowyer on the outside, Gordon behind him and Kyle Busch to his outside, and Johnson got a clean break for the lead into Turn 1, his top priority to build some separation for the finish.

“I felt like if I could get two or three corners and maintain the lead on Clint, I could stretch it back out again,” he said.

Bowyer slid into second and Busch, who tried to make a move on the outside line, instead got hung up out there as Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kasey Kahne, who restarted fifth, went underneath to take fourth.

Nothing changed the rest of the way and the top five finished in those positions.

Gordon, too, was thinking he had a chance until Kurt Busch crashed, bringing out the 12th and final caution.

“I obviously didn’t want to see a short run there at the end,” he said.

The victory made team owner Rick Hendrick’s organization the winningest team in Martinsville history with 20, breaking a tie it had with the Petty organization.

Gordon, who was tied with Johnson and Rusty Wallace with seven victories on the 0.526-mile oval, said he knew it would be a tough day when Johnson won the pole for the second race in a row here because of the pit road advantage.

“You give him that No. 1 pit stall here at Martinsville, it’s almost impossible,” Gordon said.

While Johnson dominated, there were times it looked as if the race might go in another direction.

Matt Kenseth, who has struggled at Martinsville throughout his career, actually passed Johnson for the lead and led for 96 laps.

Mark Martin, driving for the injured Denny Hamlin and equally disdainful of the venue, moved into fourth place after taking a chance and getting just two tires on a pit stop, but then faded quickly.

Martin, mindful of Hamlin’s four career victories at Martinsville, finished a disappointing 10th.

“I did not fill Denny Hamlin’s shoes, I can tell you that much,” he said.

Tony Stewart, who said earlier in the week he thought it would be funny to watch Danica Patrick try to navigate her way around the track, got passed by his rookie driver with 19 laps to go. Patrick finished 12, Stewart 17th.

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“What I know is when the racing is tighter and there’s more passing, there’s just more excitement and more contact and more things that happen,” France told ESPN.com Tuesday as the Sprint Cup Series heads into its first off weekend. “That’s kind of what NASCAR is all about.

“Kind of what happened on Sunday was a prototype event for how we would look what a good event ought to look like.”

Hamlin suffered a compression fracture to a vertebra in his lower back when he crashed hard into a concrete barrier while battling former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano for the lead on the last lap. He is expected to miss six weeks.

It was the second time in two weeks the drivers were involved in an on-track incident. Hamlin spun Logano out while Logano raced Jeff Gordon for the lead a week earlier at Bristol.

But France said he has no plans to talk to them about settling their feud.

“No, because what they did, notwithstanding that Denny got injured, what they did in the last 20 laps is exactly what we would have expected them to do,” France said. “This is a contact sport. It’s always been a contact sport, especially late in the race.

“They were going at it. It probably didn’t hurt the competitiveness that both drivers didn’t want the other one to win. They also did want to win themselves. That’s how NASCAR racing goes. We won’t be having any conversation with them.”

But Hamlin’s crash raised the question of why there weren’t SAFER barriers on the inside retaining wall where his car hit, and why tracks aren’t required to have SAFER barriers everywhere.

France said NASCAR is studying Hamlin’s crash carefully, and that if experts recommend SAFER barriers are needed where it occurred, the governing body will make that recommendation to the track.

But France said the solution is not as simple as putting barriers everywhere.

“The reason, there’s not a one-solution-fits-all-problem with the wall,” he said. “Some walls, it might sling the car back into the racing groove at the wrong time. They’ll never put SAFER barriers up everywhere because that’s not the best approach.

“If the current approach can be improved, we’re certainly going to do that. We’re looking at the accident that Denny had very carefully.”

France has been busier than usual to start the season. He met with reigning champion Brad Keselowski in late February to discuss questionable comments the Penske Racing driver made in a newspaper article.

Then came a suspension of Nationwide Series driver Jeremy Clements for using a racial slur in front of an MTV reporter, followed by a $25,000 fine to Hamlin for criticizing the new Gen-6 car and the quality of racing at Phoenix.

France acknowledged it was primarily his decision to penalize Hamlin, and he stood by that decision.

“There’s always going to be, when we make decisions that are not black and white per se, we’re always going to have people all over the organization that may not have made that call,” France said. “But I did. I’m crystal clear with everybody about where the line is, what we can accept, and about how the sport is going today.

“And that is we give more latitude than any professional sport to criticize, speak their mind and say whatever they want. We encourage it, actually, including criticism that gets directed at us. But when the driver . . . begins to call out the quality of the racing or the rules packages, we have to make that call or opinions will shape what may not be reality.”

France met with Hamlin, who dropped his right to appeal the fine, and believes they are on the same page now.

France also believes the quality of racing is better than ever with the new car. He didn’t rule out tweaks in the future or a change in the package for restrictor-plate racing at Daytona and Talladega, but overall he is pleased.

“It’s hard to argue with five different winners and all the manufacturers seem to have a fair opportunity and they’re all in the winner’s circle,” he said. “And there’s a lot more passing.

“But I think it’s too early to say we’ve got the perfect package. That’s always going to be a work in progress.”

There have been 147 green-flag passes for the lead in 2013, up from 122 after five races a year ago and down from 203 in 2011 and 298 in 2010.

France also noted that television ratings in general are up, another sign the sport is headed in the right direction.

“We have some momentum,” he said. “Some really good things have happened to us. We all know ratings are still driven by storylines and matchups in a given weekend. You saw that last weekend where basketball ratings were up because they had better matchups than they’ve had or Tiger Woods was on the leaderboard [in golf].

“We’ll just keep working on what we can do. If we have close, great racing like we have, then the ratings will take care of themselves. For all the things that could have gone wrong with the new car and a new season, a lot of good things went really well and we’re pleased with that.”

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The first mistake was bumping Logano too hard on Lap 349 in retaliation for the way the Penske Racing driver raced him earlier. The bump sent Logano into a spin when he was battling Jeff Gordon for the lead and ruined any chance he had of contending for the victory.

The second was for attacking Logano personally after a postrace shoving match between the crews that began when Logano approached Hamlin at his car.

“He said he was coming for me,” Hamlin said after the incident. “I usually don’t see him, so it’s not a factor.”

On the first mistake, Hamlin said he was trying to send Logano a message with a tap after Logano pinched down on him too hard earlier.

“I felt bad, and really if you could watch my in-car camera, you could see how frustrated I was to see he had damage to his car,” Hamlin said before the first practice at Auto Club Speedway. “I banged the steering wheel because I was, ‘Man, I didn’t mean to do that.'”

Hamlin said that gave the impression he was trying to “bully” Logano, which he was not.

“I wish the cameras would see what happened before the contact you saw on TV,” he said. “That frustrates me the most. I’m not trying to bully Joey around because of performance.”

Then came what Hamlin called “the big mistake.”

“At the end of the race I shouldn’t have degraded him as a driver,” he said. “It’s not my job to say who’s good or bad in our sport. That part probably should have been left out.”

Hamlin and Logano haven’t communicated since a battle of words Sunday night on Twitter. Logano indicated the issue that began at the Daytona 500 with Hamlin criticizing his driving wasn’t over.

“I feel like I’ve told him everything I can tell him,” Logano told ESPN.com earlier in the week. “I’ve got nothing to say.”

Hamlin considers the issue over because they haven’t talked.

“He has my phone number, and I have his,” he said. “I assume when Bristol is over with it’s over with unless spoken to otherwise. I voiced to him he had my number. If he had a problem with anything that went on, then we could talk about it. I’m assuming by no contact it’s over at this point.”

Logano said he is still upset over what happened.

“Until anyone says anything to me personally, no, it’s not over,” said Logano.

Hamlin isn’t concerned that Logano will retaliate Sunday.

“I don’t believe so,” Hamlin said. “We both have the same goal in mind. The first thing is you need to win races. The second thing is you need to make the Chase. Messing with each other on the racetrack is a huge distraction for that. You cannot do your job a hundred percent the way you’re supposed to if you’re constantly worried about somebody else.

“My guess is going into this weekend and beyond he’s going to be worried about his program and I’m going to be worried about mine.”

Logano said winning races, not wrecking Hamlin, is his top priority.

“You remember things like that, obviously,” he said of what happened at Bristol. “You don’t go out there aiming for somebody. Obviously, I’m out there to win races and run for a championship.

“But at the same time, you don’t forget what happened. You don’t forget three years down the road what happened. It’s always there. That’s the case for everybody I would assume.”

Logano said he and Hamlin weren’t buddies away from the track during his four years in the No. 20 Cup car at JGR. Hamlin said nothing went on in their relationship that would lead to what has happened this season.

“I felt like [it was] an OK relationship off the racetrack as teammates,” Hamlin said. “On the racetrack, we didn’t go to him for as much information as they probably came to us. I think at times during our tenure as teammates he felt like I probably raced him too hard at times. There was times when I felt he raced me too hard as teammates.

“That went back and forth a little bit behind the scenes, but definitely not the displeasure for each other like we’ve seen the first few races this year.”

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Former teammates Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano exchanged words after the race — in person and on Twitter — because Hamlin spun Logano as Logano was racing for the lead.

A flat tire knocked Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth out of the race while they were running 1-2.

Typical Bristol, right?

It looked that way as Kahne and Keselowski staged a spectacular battle for the lead, only for a caution to put them side-by-side for a restart with 39 laps to go.

Keselowski had an issue, he either spun his tires or the Hamlin-Logano feud disrupted his start, and Kahne sailed away for his first career victory at Bristol.

“Feels really good to win at this place,” Kahne said. “Such a tough track over the years. This is a big race for me. When you race in the Sprint Cup Series, Bristol is a race you want to win.”

Tempers flared after the race when Logano leaned inside Hamlin’s window to complain about Hamlin spinning him as he tried to pass Gordon for the lead.

Logano was pulled away from Hamlin’s car by crew members for both drivers in a classic post-Bristol clash that delighted the crowd. “They’re fighting! It’s Bristol!” yelled Clint Bowyer, who saw the action on the infield big screen.

Logano wouldn’t discuss what he told Hamlin, but indicated there’s no love lost between the former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates.

“That’s a freaking genius behind the wheel of the 11 car — probably the worst teammate I’ve ever had,” Logano said. “I have a scorecard and I’m not putting up with that. What goes around, comes around. I had to put up with him for years, so whatever.”

Hamlin shrugged it all off.

“He said he was coming for me,” Hamlin said. “I usually don’t see him, so it’s usually not a factor.”

The two sparred briefly on Twitter after the season-opening Daytona 500, when Hamlin complained Logano ruined the closing laps of the race. But he said Sunday’s flap was not a carryover.

“It didn’t have anything to do with that,” Hamlin said. “You’ve really got to control your car and he slipped up into me. Really, he would have been in the garage with no radiator in it if I had not checked up twice. I meant to run in to him. I didn’t mean to spin him out, but his day was fine. We finished bad and he finished bad. It’s even.”

But they continued sniping at each other after the race on Twitter, overshadowing what was undoubtedly the best race to date for NASCAR’s new Gen-6 race car.

And, their feuding may have played a role in the outcome of the race, too.

Keselowski was the leader on the final restart as he lined up next to Kahne. Hamlin was lined up behind Keselowski, with Logano lined up behind Hamlin. When the flag waved, Keselowski didn’t go and Kahne rocketed to the lead and never looked back.

Although it appeared Keselowski spun his tires, he was adamant after the race about what happened — “I got ran over!” — and that prevented him from breaking away on the restart.

Hamlin backed up Keselowski’s account.

“The 22 (Logano) ran into me and shoved me into (Keselowski),” Hamlin said. “Sorry to the 2, but I was the pinball in the sandwich. Once he throttled up, the 22 lifted me up and just flat out pinned me up against the 2.”

Logano seemed to think Keselowski spun his tires and that created the bottleneck, but Keselowski believed he had help from behind.

“I haven’t seen the replay, I just know my rear tires were off the ground before I got to the restart zone,” he said. “Eventually I got hit so hard it pushed my foot in the gas pedal, made myself look like a (fool). That was the deal. Never had another chance.”

Nobody came close to Kahne, who drove his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to the win by 1.7-seconds. Hendrick drivers have now won two of the first four races this season.

Kyle Busch snagged second from Keselowski, who took over the Sprint Cup Series points lead as the only driver to open the season with four top-five finishes. Kurt Busch finished fourth and was followed by Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Ryan Newman was seventh, Brian Vickers was eighth and Paul Menard and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top 10.

The race changed dramatically with 110 laps to go in a bizarre crash between leaders Gordon and Matt Kenseth. Gordon was out front when he suddenly lost a tire and his car darted up the track into the wall.

Kenseth had nowhere to go to avoid him and drove directly into the back of Gordon, causing heavy damage to both cars.

“You all right?” crew chief Alan Gustafson radioed Gordon.

“Yeah, I’m OK. Did we take out Matt, too?” Gordon asked.

With the top two cars in the garage, the rest of the field headed to pit road to reset for the final 100 laps.

“I hate that for Matt Kenseth,” Gordon said. “He was coming, and it was just a matter of time before he caught us. We needed points. This definitely isn’t going to get us many.”

Kenseth, winner of last week’s race at Las Vegas, said the crash was unavoidable.

“There’s not a lot either one of us can do about that,” he said. “There was nowhere to go.”

Before the Gordon-Kenseth crash, Gordon and Logano were dueling for the lead. Gordon used a two-tire stop with about 175 laps to go to gain eight spots on pit road and take the lead. Logano chased Gordon around the 0.533-mile bullring, pulling even with the four-time champion as he exited the corners only to lose ground on the straights.

Lurking behind in third was Hamlin, who apparently got tired of waiting for Logano to get past Gordon and showed how restless he was with slight contact on Logano’s bumper as they exited Turn 2.

The tap caused Logano to back his car into the wall and took him out of contention, leading to the post-race drama Bristol is known to create.

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With a shot at grabbing his first Nationwide Series win Saturday, he wasn’t going to make that same mistake again.

Especially not against Kyle Busch.

Larson stalked Busch over the closing laps around Bristol Motor Speedway waiting to make a move. It came as they closed in on the finish line, and Larson made a last-gasp push on the high side that fell just short as Busch held on for his second win of the season.

But in chasing the win the right way, the 20-year-old Larson cleaned up some of the criticism that had followed him from Daytona last month after spinning C.E. Falk III on the final lap of the “Battle at the Beach” late model race.

“You certainly want to try to win races the right way,” Busch said. “He played it smart today. That was good on his end. I think a lot of people have been looking at him to try to see if he’s going to be to a wrecker or a checker. Today he didn’t get the checkers, but that’s how you get them. You drive into the corner, or drive into the back of me, I’m going to be here for a while and if he keeps coming up through the ranks, he’s not going to have fun dealing with me every week.

“But right now? I’m going to race him as hard as he raced me, but just as clean as he raced me because he didn’t put a fender on me all day.”

Larson had his win over Falk in the back of his head during the closing laps at Bristol as he looked for a place to try to grab the win. Although he has received high praise from Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne as NASCAR’s next big star, his move in the “Battle of the Beach” caused many top Sprint Cup drivers to openly criticize Larson.

“I was pretty aggressive at the ‘Battle of the Beach’ and I didn’t want to have anything like that happen again and have more people look at me,” Larson said. “I don’t race that way and didn’t want to move (Busch). I wanted to outrace him. I’d gain a little more respect that way, and it made for a better finish, I think.”

Indeed it did, as both drivers closed in on lapped cars as they neared the finish line. Busch chose the low line and Larson went high, then tried to squeeze his way past Busch. Larson’s car bounced off of both the wall and Busch’s car, but he was nipped at the finish line by Busch by .023 seconds.

“He’s got a lot of talent,” Busch said. “Obviously, he’s already made a name for himself and he’s got a lot going for him. I’m 27 and I feel like I’m getting old. Every time I looked in the rear view mirror he caught me, so I stopped looking. I didn’t want to know where he was at.”

It was Busch’s fifth career Nationwide victory at Bristol, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most in the series. Busch has a series-record 53 wins, and two in the last four weeks after going winless last season.

Brian Vickers was third and was followed by Nationwide Series points leader Sam Hornish Jr. and Harvick.

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But NASCAR’s most popular driver, according to the magazine’s estimates, saw his total earnings drop from $28.2 million the year before to $25.9 million this year.

The $25.9 million is based on a $12.9 million salary and winnings and $13 million in endorsements. In just salary/winnings, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson ranks No. 1 at $16.3 million. His total with endorsements is $23 million, ranking second to Earnhardt.

Danica Patrick, in her first full season in the Sprint Cup series, came in at No. 7 with an estimated worth of $12.9 million from salary, winnings and endorsements.

Reigning champion Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10 at $11.4 million — $10 million of that in salary/winnings.

The top 10, according to Forbes:

• Earnhardt Jr. — $25.9 million ($12.9 salary/winnings, $13M endorsements)
• Johnson — $23 million ($16.3M salary/winnings, $6.7M endorsements)
• Tony Stewart — $18.7 million ($12.7M salary/winnings, $6M endorsements)
• Jeff Gordon — $18.1 million ($12.6M salary/winnings, $5.5M endorsements)
• Carl Edwards — $13.7 million ($12.2M salary/winnings, $1.5M endorsements)
• Kevin Harvick — $13 million ($11.5M salary/winnings, $1.5M endorsements)
• Patrick — $12.9 million ($6.4M salary/winnings, $6.5M endorsements)
• Kyle Busch — $12.5 million ($9.6M salary/winnings, $2.9M endorsements)
• Kasey Kahne — $12 million ($11M salary/winnings, $1M endorsements)
• Keselowski — $11.4 million ($10M salary/winnings, $1.4M endorsements

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The deal, announced to 1,700 store managers at Lowe’s national sales meeting three days after Johnson won his second Daytona 500, runs concurrent with Johnson’s HMS contract that goes through 2015.

“It has been a great ride with Jimmie since he started in the Cup Series 12 years ago,” Tom Lamb, Lowe’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “We are proud to sponsor one of the most elite teams and drivers in racing and have a five-time champion carry the Lowe’s brand each week.”

Lowe’s has been the primary sponsor on Johnson’s car since his first full Cup season in 2002. Over that time the 37-year-old driver has won 61 times, the most in Cup during that span. He’s also never finished lower than sixth in championship points.

Johnson, who won five consecutive titles from 2006 to 2010, is only the second driver to have the primary sponsor for each of his first 400 Cup starts. Teammate Jeff Gordon with DuPont was the other.

“Lowe’s believed in me before I had any success,” Johnson said. “They are all I’ve ever known in my Sprint Cup career, and their support of me and the No. 48 team is second to none in the sport. We’ve been together for this crazy ride and I’m so happy we’re continuing it together. They truly are family and I’m proud to represent them.”

Johnson’s five championships are second only to Hall of Fame drivers Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with seven each. All were won with crew chief Chad Knaus.

“We caught lightning in a bottle with this combination,” said Rick Hendrick, the owner of HMS. “Jimmie and Chad have been successful because they always have a plan and do a great job executing. Lowe’s is the same way as a sponsor. The partnership has been incredible.”

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She became the first woman to lead a lap and was the highest female finisher in the famed Daytona 500. She led five laps and finished eighth. Janet Guthrie had the previous best finish for a woman in the Daytona 500 — 11th in 1980.

“You spend a lot of time thinking about what to do when the time comes,” Patrick said. “I kept asking up above what was working. You needed a hole, you needed people to help you out. I had a little bit of help today here and there, but I felt like if I was going to dive low, I had a feeling I was going to get freight-trained. … At the end of the day, it was a solid day.”

Patrick, the former IndyCar star and current Sprint Cup rookie, was in position to make a run at winner Jimmie Johnson in the final laps. But Patrick faded, dropping from third to eighth as more experienced drivers passed her.

“We stayed basically in the top 10 all day long,” she said. “You can’t really complain about that. It was nice.”

Patrick stayed out of trouble in a 200-lap race that saw several top contenders knocked out early.

Patrick started the “Great American Race” on the pole after becoming the first woman to qualify in the top spot. She failed to lead the first lap, though, falling behind three-time race winner Jeff Gordon.

Nonetheless, it was a big moment for NASCAR and Patrick.

But Patrick got her chance to be out front near the midway point. Fans were on their feet as Patrick beat Michael Waltrip to the front of the field on a restart. She led laps 90 and 91 and three more later before making a pit stop.

Patrick also made history as an IndyCar driver. She led 19 laps as a rookie in the 2005 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first woman to lead open-wheel racing’s premier event. She finished fourth.

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The question of whether Danica Patrick’s weight — or lack of it compared to fellow Sprint Cup competitors — gave her a competitive advantage in Sunday’s 500 qualifying came up on Wednesday. The simple answer is: maybe, but probably not.

According to the NASCAR rulebook, drivers who weigh less than 180 pounds have to add 10 pounds to their car for every 10 pounds down to 140. Therefore, the maximum penalty would be 40 pounds.

Patrick arrived at Daytona International Speedway weighing 110 pounds, according to her representatives. So theoretically, her car could have been 30 pounds lighter than the car driven by 150-pound Jeff Gordon, who qualified second.

Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, Patrick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammates who exceed 180 pounds, qualified fifth and fourth.

“There’s two thought processes,” series director John Darby said when asked whether a lighter driver could have an advantage. “One is the heavier driver will help compress the springs more and help pull the car down out of the air.

“The other school of thought is any time you can save weight, you’re saving weight. At the end of the day I don’t think it matters.”

This isn’t the first time Patrick’s weight has been an issue in racing. In 2005, Robby Gordon said Patrick had an unfair advantage for the Indianapolis 500 and said he would not compete in the event unless the field was equalized.

Gordon, a former open-wheel driver who also competed in NASCAR, contended Patrick had an advantage because all of the cars weighed the same and there were no adjustments made for a driver’s height.

“The lighter the car, the faster it goes,” Gordon said at the time. “Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds, and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.

“I won’t race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away.”

At the time, the IndyCar had to weigh 1,525 pounds before the fuel and driver were added. In 2008, the league ruled the minimum weight would include the driver.

Patrick wasn’t happy.

“If someone’s going to take the hit, it’s going to be me,” she said at the time. “It’s disappointing the league decided to do that. In so many other sports, athletes don’t get penalized for being too strong or too tall or too fast.

“[It’s] just your God-given stature is being penalized. What am I going to do, though? It’s not my decision. That’s the people higher up [who] made their bed, and they’ve got to lay in it.”

In the Sprint Cup Series, the car must weigh 3,300 pounds based on a driver weighing 180, an adjustment from 200 last year. Where Patrick could gain an advantage is that the 40 pounds her team is required to add to the frame can be positioned at a lower center of gravity than the driver.

All of the weight must be added to the left side. The right side for all cars must be 1,620 pounds, according to NASCAR’s rulebook.

“What’s a shame is everyone is pointing at Danica going, ‘Oh, she’s 40 pounds light,'” Darby said. “But what about Mark Martin [125 pounds]? … There’s half of the field that doesn’t weigh more than horse jockeys anymore.”

Drivers don’t appear to be concerned. Jimmie Johnson said it’s no big deal. Matt Kenseth joked that if Patrick keeps going fast, they need to add a lot of weight “on the roof.”

“When you’re talking about Martinsville, yeah, you can talk about an advantage to being lighter,” Darby said. “Here, most of the cars are heavier than what they should be anyway.

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