Henry likes way they run

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Last summer, as he stood near the batting cage at Fenway Park, Red Sox owner John W. Henry addressed his rumored infatuation with racing -- NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, to be specific. He had been asked about speculation that a deal was in the works for him to partner with Jack Roush, principal owner of one of the biggest teams (five cars) on the Nextel Cup circuit.

"I'm mystified by all these people who think I'm a NASCAR junkie," Henry said at the time.

So it came as something of a surprise to see Henry standing next to Roush at the drivers' meeting before the Sylvania 300 last September at New Hampshire International Speedway.

"Still not a fan?" he was asked.

"Oh, I'd say I'm getting there," he replied.

Yesterday, Henry was not only a bona fide NASCAR fan, but a Nextel Cup co-owner of the newly formed Roush Fenway Racing team, when he sat flanked by Roush at the drivers' meeting before yesterday's 49th Daytona 500.

Rookie David Ragan finished fifth to submit the best effort of Roush Fenway Racing's five drivers.

Carl Edwards finished 23d, Greg Biffle 25th, Matt Kenseth 27th, and Jamie McMurray 31st.

A fan? "I certainly am now," said Henry, who watched the race from atop the Kenseth war wagon.

"I just thought it was overplayed that they called me a 'NASCAR junkie.' This is only my fourth race, and the other three were because I was with Jack," he said.

"I really have fallen in love with the way the sport is run. The people who run this sport, it's truly the American way. They've done a tremendous job of marketing the sport and they do a tremendous job with the sponsors and the fans. No one is more fan-friendly than this sport."

So was it his love of NASCAR's structure that compelled him to buy into Roush's team?

"It was really how we could work together that made sense for both organizations," Henry said of the partnership between Roush Racing and Fenway Sports Group, the sports marketing arm of New England Sports Ventures.

"Again, this isn't about the Red Sox getting into racing. This is about Fenway Sports Group expanding its platform and it's quite an aggressive organization; I wanted them doing major league things rather than minor league things, and this is where they ended up and it took 3 1/2 years."

Tony Stewart, who was considered a strong contender in his No. 20 Chevrolet, finished last after he was the first driver to get knocked out of the race. Stewart's car tangled with Kurt Busch's and was sent hurtling into the wall in Turn 4 on Lap 153. "We were running behind Stewart and I got him aero loose," said an apologetic Busch. "He checked up in front of me, and I bumped into him. It looked awful, but I did all I could to stay off of him. It ruined both of our chances to win the Daytona 500. I feel bad for him, because he's been a good ally on the [restrictor] plate tracks." . . . Boris Said, driver of the No. 60 Ford, was the first to produce a caution yesterday when he got loose coming off Turn 2, side-swiped the No. 00 of rookie David Reutimann, and spun out on the backstretch . . . When Clint Bowyer finished 18th, it seemed miraculous, given that he skidded across the finish line on the roof of his No. 07 Chevrolet, which caught fire before righting itself, enabling Bowyer to scramble out of the cockpit unharmed. For the record, Bowyer's official status at the end of the race was listed in the results as "running."