Bliss happy with top 20 run.

Mike Bliss didn't survive Sunday's Daytona 500 unscathed, but was still able to score a lead-lap, top 20 finish for the #0 Hass CNC Racing team.

Starting the biggest race of the NASCAR season from 35th position, Bliss remained within sight of the leaders in the early laps while communicating to crew chief Bootie Barker that the car was loose in the centre of the corners and off. Barker called for air pressure and track bar adjustments during the first pit stop of the day, which came during a caution period on lap 16.

Barker continued to make adjustments to the NetZero Best Buy sponsored Chevrolet and Bliss remained in or around the top 25 for the first half of the event.

A caution flag on lap 144 of the scheduled 200 allowed the team to repair minor damage to the right side of the machine, which occurred when Bliss made contact with the outside retaining wall several laps before.

Faced with the task of mounting a final charge over the last 50 laps, the former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion avoided sustaining major damage during a multi-car pileup with 18 laps remaining, but wasn't so fortunate five laps later when another group of cars tangled on the following restart.

After making heavy contact with Mike Skinner's spinning car, Bliss made several frantic pitstops to ensure he could complete the final ten laps. Helped by yet another late race caution, Bliss was able to keep his damaged car on the lead lap and crossed the line in 18th position, giving the third year #0 team their third Daytona 500 top 20 finish in three attempts.

"There are a lot of elements that make up the running of the Daytona 500, and we learned a lot throughout our time here that will help us both at Talladega as well as when we come back to Daytona in July," commented Bliss following the event. "The NetZero Best Buy Racing Chevrolet was a little sluggish for some reason on restarts, which obviously hurt us a bit, but once it got going, our Hendrick Engine was impressive.

"The guys did a good job on pit road making repairs and also making sure we didn't get ourselves caught a lap down while we were doing it. Bootie called a good race and made good adjustments to the car, so all in all, we're pretty happy with our first race of the season together. We look forward to getting to California and seeing what we have there as well."