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In a race that was suppose to be started and finished on Sunday Matt Kenseth held off a late charging Dale Earnhardt Jr to win the Daytona 500. When the race started more fans were worried about rain but it was a fire that everyone will remember. With 40 laps to go Juan Pablo Montoya had scary crash with a jet dryer in which everyone involved was fortunate to escape with just minor injuries.

There was many stories to cover during this race since five time Sprint cup champion Jimmie Johnson was involved in a wreck early which also damaged Danica Patrick’s car badly. Last years winner Trevor Bayne was also involved in an accident and wasn’t a factor in the finish. We also had Jeff Gordon’s engine blow up unexpectedly which caused many fans to wonder about Hendricks engines.

The Daytona 500 started on a Monday and ended on a Tuesday for the first time in history. The 2 hour red flag condition was both scary with dealing with jet fuel on fire and dealing with getting people to safety. The driver of the jet dryer seemed to be more shaken up than Juan Pablo Montoya which tells us how great the safety features are on the Car of Tomorrow. Kind of funny calling this car that but the foam inside the doors of the new car showed us how important it is to focus on safety. Juan Pablo didn’t hit a safer barrier, he ran into a solid metal truck full of jet fuel. The jet dryer driver had no idea he was about to be in a wreck

The workers who spent all weekend working hard already had to be pressed into service to repair the track. I really thought the race was going to be called with 40 to go and give Dave Blaney his first Sprint car cup win. If Dave would have won he wouldn’t of had a car to run at Phoenix next week since they are a small team operation. Then there was reports of rain which seemed to disappear.

During the red flag the Brad Kesolowski tweeted pictures from his race car and even though many wondered why he had a phone in the car, fans just loved seeing pictures from the track. Brad actually picked up 10′s of thousands of followers on Twitter.

The fans were out in full force and I was quite surprised at the amount of fans that toughed it out over a long weekend. They even had a wave going during the delay which I am sure was the first time that has been done at a race since the 1990′s. I am sure NASCAR will look at the numbers and wonder if they will have to include a Monday night into their schedule in the future.

This was Matt Kenseth’s second Daytona 500 win. His other win in the Daytona 500 was a rain shortened win.

On the last lap Matt’s teammate Greg Biffle provided enough blocking for Matt to hold off Dale Earnhardt Jr. Click below to hear Matt talk about the win.

It was a great effort by Rousch racing to bring home a Daytona 500 win. This was the 300th win for Rousch racing in NASCAR.

The winners in my book are the fans that toughed it out at the track all weekend. They certainly saw everything that could happen in a race, until next week of course.

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Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Reutimann, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Daytona Int'l Speedway, NASCAR Crashes, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For all the talk of a new track surface, a different style of racing and promises of the "wildest" Daytona 500 ever, Sunday's much-anticipated NASCAR season-opener still ended up like so many of those that have preceded it -- decided in the final laps.

Making his first-ever Daytona 500 start, 20-year-old rookie Trevor Bayne held off Carl Edwards, David Gilliland and Bobby Labonte to earn the venerable Wood Brothers Racing team its fifth Daytona 500 victory and first since NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee David Pearson's win in 1976.

"Am I dreaming? Is this real? I don't even know where to go,'' a stunned Bayne exclaimed to his team on the radio as he crossed the finish line and drove his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford to victory circle, where he was too young to even drink the traditional celebratory champagne.

The race lived up to its billing, easily setting records for caution flags (16) and lead changes (74 among 22 drivers), but in the end it was a a great show of poise heading to the checkered flag that made Bayne the youngest winner of NASCAR's most prestigious trophy - one day after he celebrated his 20th birthday.

A five-car accident at the front of the field with four laps remaining in the 200-lap regulation period set up the first of two green-white-checkered overtime periods and all but eliminated several of the strongest cars, including Ryan Newman, Regan Smith and Clint Bowyer, who exchanged the lead in the closing 15 laps.

Robby Gordon's spin on the first restart sent cars scrambling, and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Chevrolet was collected in the melee, setting up the final two-lap shootout among Bayne and the veterans.

 

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