HAMPTON, GA. ? The No. 12 Winston Cup team didn’t get too nervous about what might happen this season after Ryan Newman’s crash in the Daytona 500.

Last year’s top rookie was not injured in the wreck. He walked away from the wild ride stiff and sore — and with a renewed determination to get into the championship hunt.

“Tony (Stewart) was last at Daytona last year, and those guys didn’t panic,” Newman said. “They just got on with business and took it a race at a time, got back in it and won the championship.”

That’s exactly what the 25-year-old racer is aiming to do as he heads into today’s Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he will start from the pole.

After the last-place finish at Daytona and an undistinguished 14th at Rockingham, Newman found himself two laps down last Sunday in Las Vegas — possibly heading for another disastrous day.

Instead, he regained those lost laps and finished seventh, jumping from 32nd to 17th in points. Newman now trails series leader Michael Waltrip by 155 points after three of 36 events.

Bill Elliott, a five-time Atlanta winner, will start alongside Newman at the front of the 43-car field. Elliott Sadler starts third.