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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