The Daytona 500 is called the Super Bowl of NASCAR. That night it lived up to the name. It was however a long weekend. The 54th running of the "Great American Race" was postponed for the first time ever after the rains came on Sunday.
Then after more rain Monday morning the drivers finally got the command to start their engines. It didn't take long for them to start pushing the limits to hard. On lap 2 a wreck sucked up 5 time series champion Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Bush, and fan favorite Danica Patrick. Patrick and Bush would come back later but Johnson's night was over before it even started.
Things settled down till 40 laps to go when Juan Pablo Montoya's steering broke and he slammed into the jet dryer. The dryers were blowing debris off the track which is normal. Montoya slammed into the trailer that the jet engine was on causing 200 gallons of jet fuel to spill on the track and burst into flames. A 2 hour red flag stopped the race while they put the fire out and did repairs to the track.
Once the race resumed Matt Kenseth held off a charging Dale Earnhart Jr. for the checkered flag. This is the second win for Kenseth in the 500. Although it only took 3 and a half hours of actually race time the race took over 5 hours to complete after the red flag. Everyone was excited that pack racing was back. No more 2 car tandems anymore. Last year the best driver and the best car didn't win the race. It was about who could push who. This season with the smaller grill opening and for the first time fuel injectors in the cars, you couldn't push to long. Matt Kenseth lead the second most amount of laps and had the best car on the track and it showed last night with his win. One side footnote to the race, there was a race to halfway where the winner would get a 200,000 dollar bonus. Martin Truex Jr. was the winner of that and won the bonus.
All in all even though there was rain delay, and the race didn't start till after 7 in the east and finish till after 1 am in the east, it was still a fantastic race. The green white checker overtime rule that NASCAR put in a few years ago was brilliant. Instead of ending with a caution the drivers are allowed to race for the finish. At a track like Daytona, and an event like the Daytona 500 you don't want it any other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment