The 50th running of the Daytona 500 was the second highest-rated and second most-watched 500 shown on Fox.

The television network scored increased average audience, total audience and household ratings from a year ago, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Daytona earned a 10.2/20 household rating/share and averaged 17.8 million viewers. The numbers last year were 10.1/20 and 17.5 million. The 2005 Daytona 500 on Fox earned a 10.9 rating and 23 percent share.

Nielsen said 33.5 million Americans watched at least part of The Great American Race, a 2 percent improvement over 2007's 33.0 million. And this year's numbers also marked the first time that the Daytona 500 has earned a higher rating than the prime-time NFL package, with NBC averaging 10.0/16 on "Sunday Night Football" during the past season.

Looking at other top Winter/ Spring events, the Daytona 500 also posted a higher rating than the most recent NCAA Final Four on CBS (9.9/18), final round of The Masters (9.1/22 on CBS) and Kentucky Derby (8.8/21 on NBC).

A ratings point represents 1,128,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 112.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

Last May's Indianapolis 500 had a rating/share of 4.3/12.

BACK, BACK, BACK: In the closing moments of Sunday's Daytona 500, Jeff Burton was lost in the shuffle, almost literally.

The Richard Childress Racing driver found himself leading the pack heading into the final restart, three laps from the finish of the 500-mile race.

As the green flag waved, Kyle Busch went low and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart went high, sandwiching Burton in the middle entering turn one. Busch and Stewart had drafting help and Burton found himself sliding back, riding the middle groove with no help. He wound up 13th in the season-opening race.

"On the last restart, we weren't fast enough to run up front," Burton said. "We were in a bad spot. I knew we were going to get passed for the lead, but it's always fun to lead at Daytona. Finishing 13th isn't a bad start to the season."

VILLENEUVE LURES FORMER OWNER FOR NASCAR BID: Jacques Villeneuve has lured former IndyCar owner Barry Green out of a semi-retirement in Australia as the driver regroups for a renewed effort to make a successful transition from open-wheel racing to NASCAR.

Green, who owned teams that Villeneuve drove to championships in the 1990s, will work with the one-time Formula One world champion to find the sponsors he needs to get a full-time ride either in the Sprint Cup or Nationwide series. Villeneuve failed to qualify for Sunday's Daytona 500.

"The chemistry with us was always very good," Villeneuve said at his downtown Montreal restaurant Wednesday. "He brings credibility, respect -- even though it's NASCAR, there are a lot of people that he knows and that know him, or that know of him, because of the ChampCar days and the IRL days."

Green said they were talking with Bill Davis Racing.

Villeneuve, 36, also hopes to race the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Peugeot in June after making his initial appearance in last year's race.

SIX-TIME INDY RACER DIES: Jamaica, N.Y.-born Jerry Karl, 66, who started six times in the Indianapolis 500 from 1970 to 1985, died Saturday from injuries he suffered in a car accident in Baltimore, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Tuesday.