Hey All,
Last night was the rescheduled Daytona 500, and man did sparks fly. Between a rain delay, which caused the race to be moved to Monday night, all the wrecks, and believe it or not the track catching on fire, the race didn't even get over until 1:30am. Let's get right into the think of things and find out how the biggest race of the year, made history last night.
The NASCAR Super Bowl if you will went off with a bang from the get go. All the drivers amped up to get the season under way, caused a lot of high expectations for this years race at Daytona. After the first lap was completed, we had our first wreck of the NASCAR season. Five time series champ Jimmy Johnson was taken completely out of the race when being pushed from behind caused him to get loose and sent him into the wall. He took out five other drivers with him, including rookie Danica Patrick. This caused a lot of drivers to get upset over the fact that they've waited 36 hours to run this race, and couldn't even complete one lap with out there being a caution. This wouldn't be last of the cautions, or the delays.
The 500 always brings out the best and the worst with everyone wanting to win this race. This years 500 would be known for rain and fire. The race had one of its most frightening and dangerous situations when Juan Pablo Montoya lost control of his car under caution and slammed into the back of a jet dryer, causing it to explode in flames. Montoya's Chevrolet was destroyed, forcing him out of the race, while the driver of the jet dryer escaped a serious situation. He was transported to a hospital across the street from Daytona International Speedway for further evaluation. He ended up being alright and would spend the night in the hospital just to do safe.
And that was just the prelude to the real drama and fireworks as Matt Kenseth scored his second Daytona 500 victory in the last four years, taking the checkered flag at 1 a.m. ET to end the longest Speedweeks in Daytona history. "I have to give a lot of credit to Doug Yates and the guys at the engine shop -- we had great horsepower," said the driver, whose car was in front of the field two times for a total of 50 laps, including the final 38. "I have to thank Greg [Biffle too]. We worked together really good all day long. He had a really fast car all day as well. It feels good. We had a really fast car and have had fast cars in the past and I figured out a way to mess it up. I am thankful everything worked out on the restarts and I am glad it all worked out."
Kenseth's Ford defeated Earnhardt's Chevrolet by 0.210 seconds in a race that featured 25 lead changes among 13 drivers. It was also slowed for 10 caution periods spanning 42 laps, including the two-hour, five-minute and 29-second red flag period after the fire. Earnhardt finished second for his sixth second-place finish since his last Cup win at Michigan in 2008. Earnhardt Jr. has been on a 130 race win-less streak and is still hunting for victory lane. To read more about this historic race please check out the link at the bottom of the post.
Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/racing/02/28/daytona-500/index.html#ixzz1nj9mu0Dn
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