Welcome to the Daytona 500 marathon. Was this a long, long Speedweeks or what? After a 6-hour event and all was said and done, Matt Kenseth outlasted, outwitted and out-drove the field of competitors and won the Daytona 500, and that, after all the rain and fire, he survived a George R.R. Martin version of a NASCAR race.
And poor Danica Patrick got the proper welcome to NASCAR, whether she wanted it or not!
Sunday's Daytona 500 festivities started out wet and raining. For fans pouring (no pun meant) into the facility, for them, their Daytona 500 experience started on Sunday and did not end until early Tuesday morning.
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But the rains persisted and NASCAR postponed, for the first time in the history of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. It finally got going Monday evening at 7pm eastern time. And Fox announced it would carry the D500 on all affiliate stations. (But then that ticked off the House and Alcatraz fans, not to mention the non-sports fans of the TV viewing world. Rescheduled Show News.)
At least we had a chance to warn our readers!
We weren't past the start/finish line for more than 1 lap when Elliott Sadler tapped Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall, collecting Danica Patrick in the mess and sending her to the garage. Trevor Bayne, David Ragan and Kurt Busch were also victims of the event.
With the no. 48 wrecking out early, does this mean we might see a negative set of points for the driver after the inspection failure of the C-post? Because you know that announcement is still waiting to happen!
On lap 81, Jeff Gordon's engine expired in a fiery fashion of a flame out.
But of course the big event was when something broke on Juan Montoya's car during the caution, that sent him spinning into the jet dryer truck, causing a 2-hour red flag
But the fun was not over yet...
Lap 178 saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. smack Aric Almirola and on lap 197 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (getting lots of camera time for his sponsor) turned Tony Stewart.
With the green-white-checkered finish (there was only 1), Matt Kenseth led the pack to the race finish and showing team solidarity, Greg Biffle got behind him and pushed him to the win, while holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. from Kenseth's bumper.
All in all, the racing was fun to watch though I'm concerned the new aero package with all its cooling restrictions might have caused a failure or two... but that's a guess, not a fact.
In the end the top-5 Daytona 500 finishers were
1. Matt Kenseth Ford
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet
3. Greg Biffle Ford
4. Denny Hamlin Toyota
5. Jeff Burton Chevrolet
More Results
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Matt Kenseth To Visit San Francisco
Don't forget, that on March 1st, the Daytona 500 winner, Matt Kenseth, starts a victory rally at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and take a victory lap around town.
http://www.infineonraceway.com/media/news/603152.html
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TV Ratings for the Daytona 500
Daytona 500 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 8.4/13 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
9:00 p.m.: 7.8/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 9.9/15 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)
(Ratings via TV Media Insights)
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