Daytona fairytale for Shelmerdine.

By far the best 'feel good' story of the 48th annual Daytona 500 was Kirk Shelmerdine's remarkable 20th place finish in his underfunded, largely unsponsored #27 Chevrolet.

Few expected Dale Earnhardt's multi-championship winning crew chief to even make the race, something Shelmerdine had failed to do in five previous attempts, never mind stay on the lead lap all day and finish in the top 20. But Shelmerdine did, and on the five-year anniversary of Earnhardt's passing, proved that there is still plenty of magic left within the Daytona International Speedway.

Having failed to qualify for more than two dozen races in the past two years, and failed to finish every one of the 19 races he has made during that period, the 47 year-old driver smashed his previous best career finish and saw the chequered flag in a Nextel Cup race for the first time since 1994 and for just the second time in a Cup career that dates back to 1981.

With no 'big one' to take out half the starting field, Shelmerdine's finishing position wasn't a fluke either, for although he ran towards the rear of the pack for most of the day, he ran ahead of several far better funded drivers during the course of the day, had solid pit stops and then made a bunch of green flag passes in the draft in the closing laps.

But as the race unfolded, it became apparent that after his sixth fastest time among the non top-35 teams in Bud Pole qualifying last weekend was enough to secure him a 42nd place start in Sunday's big race, Shelmerdine faced a new set of headaches.

Without a pit crew and without enough money to even buy enough tyres to complete 200-laps of the 2.5-mile Speedway, Shelmerdine headed into the final 48 hours before Sunday's race start not knowing if he would be able to compete on Sunday.

However, help came in the form of his and Earnhardt's old boss Richard Childress and some committed Dale Earnhardt fans, who between them gave Shelmerdine some much-needed sponsorship and enough money to buy tyres for the race.

After the race, Shelmerdine took the time to thank all those who had helped, even if some of his donors seemed to want to remain anonymous.

"People helped get us here," said Shelmerdine, who took home a career best paycheck of more than one quarter of a million dollars. "Friends and contributors all helped. Without a big corporate deal, it was hard to pull off. People jumped in and helped like the Lopez family. They wanted to help and they got us all our tyres. It was substantial. They paid our whole tyre bill, but I don't think they want us to talk about that. They are some very devoted Dale Sr. fans.

"And Richard Childress helped us. We were trying to get my son a plane ride down here so he could come watch the race. He's never been to Daytona before. Richard said he'd give him a spot on their plane. And he said if we didn't get a sponsor by this morning, we could put the Childress Vineyard on the car. And so we did. It was a really nice gesture from him and maybe even a little nostalgia for the fans.

"If it weren't for family and friends, I'd still be home watching it on TV and wishing I hadn't eaten so much pizza right now. That's the kind of thing that's gotten us here the whole time. That's something you can't sustain for a long time. We've got to get some sponsorship going. But we've really had a fun weekend."

Having run some of the 2004 and 2005 seasons with engines and machinery dating from the late 1990's, competitive cars like the one he was able to use on Sunday are a rarity in Shelmerdine's tiny workshop in North Carolina. However he is hoping of scraping together enough funds to invest in some better equipment and attempt more races this year, even if a place among the top 35 in owner points looks like a bridge too far.

"There were 58 cars here, so I guess our odds of making the race were one in 58," Shelmerdine added. "But really, it was a lot taller. We have substantially less than one-tenth the budget than all these other cars for this race only. You know, you don't have a prayer. We got lucky on the qualifying thing and how those races shook out on Thursday that put us in the race. We had a decent lap. It was a combination of everything that did it for us."

Giving an indication of how valuable Daytona's bumper payday was to his team, he continued; "I'm in the black right now. And for all of 2005, I wasn't. So that's a good feeling. But as far as racing some more, we'd like to have some more decent cars like this one to at least make some respectable showings and it takes a lot of money.

"We couldn't keep up with the other cars, but I guess we beat all the wrecked ones. But it was a good finish for us and everybody is pretty happy. I'll be glad to go home and rest. It's been a heck of a week."