Terry Renna, Associated Press President George W. Bush shakes hands with race car fans before the Daytona 500 race Sunday. Click photo for larger image.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Bill France Jr. isn't running NASCAR anymore, but he still has an opinion or two. Since 1972, France ran the organization his father, Bill Sr., founded in 1948. In October, he named his son, Brian, as Chairman of the Board and CEO.

France Jr. fielded questions yesterday on everything from President Bush attending the race to the economics of the sport. Here's what he had to say:

On spending time with the President: "He doesn't need my advice on what to do in Iraq, although sometimes I think our garage area can be Iraq, or a form of it. It can be a little hostile. ... I'm sure the race fans here are going to enjoy it. How often does somebody, in their lives, get to see the President of the United States? To me, that's a big deal."

On the new Chase for the Championship NASCAR has created for the final 10 races: "I knew it was happening. I think it's going to work great, personally. I'm a little disappointed I didn't think of it. If it doesn't [work], we'll do some tuning. NASCAR historically will change things tomorrow if it makes sense that we can do that. The point distribution pretty much has to be done on a year-to-year basis, not in the middle of the year."

On the phenomenon of the "NASCAR dad" in this election year: "Just because the race fans like you is not an automatic key to the White House, but it doesn't hurt. There's more than 300 million Americans and we got a lot of them that follow motor sports, but until we get all 300 of them we got a ways to go."

On Nextel taking over series sponsorship: "It's a change, but if you ask any of the Nextel people they're just as enthused as can be. It's a new marriage and I've said before the Winston people have certainly played their role in the development of the sport. We miss them, personally, and we had a lot of good friends there as individuals. The whole economy of America has been changing."

On controlling costs in NASCAR: "That's probably one of the biggest challenges in the world, not just for us but for each country and the economies. There are certain things we can do and there are certain things we can't do, drivers' salaries being one. On one hand they need to stay reasonable and proportionate to the revenue coming in. Having said that, who am I to say that the driver who goes out on the racetrack and risks his life should have to sit back in the income standpoint? It all has to balance up and we can do some things on parts and pieces to save a team owner $1,000, but if he goes out and spends it somewhere else he's still out the $1,000. It all has to balance, just like all economies, starting with your own household."

On car counts possibly declining: "Everybody's talking how great the open-wheel guys are going to be and they're struggling to get 18 cars. I think we got a ways to go before someone starts talking about us."

On adding races to the schedule: "I'm trying to figure out how to make Sundays out of Wednesdays. I haven't got to that point yet. I haven't figured out an answer on that. That's one of our dilemmas, the amount of dates we get. That's going to be hard to ever change."

Tough day for local ties

After a strong week of qualifying and practice, the drivers for Fox Chapel's Chip Ganassi had a rough race. Jamie McMurray was on the left of Rusty Wallace on lap 49 as they came off of turn two when Wallace tried to squeeze between McMurray and Jeff Green. Wallace didn't make it, bumping McMurray and taking out himself and Green, leaving McMurray with some damage to the right rear of his Dodge.

On lap 70, McMurray and Sterling Marlin were caught in a horrific, 12-car crash that left defending champion Michael Waltrip's car upside down. McMurray, the 2003 rookie of the year, ended up 36th and Marlin, whose front end was destroyed, finished 37th.

Casey Mears managed to avoid trouble and stayed on the lead lap, finishing a career-best 14th.

"It's unfortunate the other two Ganassi Dodges got caught up in a wreck," said Mears, whose previous top finish in a Cup race was 15th. "I'm not real excited about 14th, but it is our best run in Cup so far."

Dave Blaney, a Hartford, Ohio, native and co-owner of Sharon Speedway, narrowly avoided the big crash and ran in the lead pack much of the race before fading in a series of pit stops. He wound up in 15th place, easily his best career finish in a points race at Daytona.

Roush's engine trouble

In an effort to close the gap on the Chevrolets of Dale Earnhardt Inc., Ford owners and intense rivals Jack Roush and Robert Yates combined engine programs after last season. The move appeared to be successful until yesterday. Yates' Dale Jarrett won the exhibition shootout and Elliott Sadler won a qualifying race. Roush's Greg Biffle had won the pole, but his crew decided to change engines after the final practice, which forced him to take the green flag from the rear of the field.

Biffle's engine woes foreshadowed the trouble his Roush Racing teammates faced yesterday. After only four laps, Mark Martin's engine blew, as did Jeff Burton's on lap 25. After all the effort by Roush and Yates in engine development, the trouble under the hood caught Burton off guard.

"There wasn't any conversation at all about the engine problems," Burton said. "[Saturday] with Greg was the first time we saw any indication of anything at all. Then, we had two today. It's frustrating for sure."

Yates' Elliott Sadler, who started second, finished seventh, which was the best finish of any of the drivers using a Roush or Yates motor.

He said it

Michael Waltrip, two-time Daytona 500 winner, after leaving the infield care center following a lap-70 crash on the backstretch that left him pinned upside down in his car: "My brother told me the other day that all the great ones have flipped at Daytona. So I guess I'm one of them now."

Celebrity report

No doubt President Bush had the highest profile at the Daytona 500 -- and the security force to back it up -- but, as usual, the race attracted several celebrities, including actor Ben Affleck, who was the grand marshal, comedian Whoopi Goldberg, country singer LeAnn Rimes and Miss America Ericka Dunlap.

Lug nuts

Six of the top-10 finishers in the race yesterday finished in the final top 10 in the 2003 standings: Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt. Jr. ... Only once since 1977 has the winner of the Daytona 500 gone on to win the series championship in the same year, when Gordon accomplished the feat in 1997. ... The race leader at the halfway point has failed to win in the past 12 years. Stewart was the leader yesterday after 100 laps at 2.5 mile Daytona International Speedway and finished second.