It seemed as though the racing gods did not want to see the 54th Daytona 500 run to completion on Monday night. However, just before 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Matt Kenseth could breathe a sigh of relief. He had just won his second career Daytona 500. Before he could cross the line first, Kenseth had to sit through two postponements of the event caused by rain and a two-hour fire delay caused by a bizarre on-track incident. In ret¬rospect, everything that could have happened during the 500 did happen. Fire and rain almost overshad¬owed the running of this year's 500. The race was postponed on Sunday for the first time in its history due to heavy rain in the Daytona Beach, Fla. area. It was rescheduled for Monday at noon, but constant rain throughout the day forced NASCAR officials to push the race back to a 7 p.m. start time on Monday night. It was the first time the entire race was run at night. When the green flag finally flew, it did not take long for calamity to ensue.
Elliot Sadler turned five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson into the outside wall just past the start/finish line on the second lap, ending his night. Also involved in the wreck were defending 500 winner Trevor Bayne, rookie media sensation Danica Patrick, Kurt Busch and David Ragan. Patrick was making her first official Sprint Cup start for Stewart-Haas Racing in what had already been a difficult Speedweeks for the rookie. It was her third wreck of the week, in¬cluding her accident in the Gatorade Duel and the Nationwide race.
Jeff Gordon, Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, blew a mo¬tor on lap 81, ending his hopes of winning a fourth 500. There was a $200,000 bonus for leading the race at halfway (lap 100). Martin Truex, Jr. took the lead coming to the halfway lap and took home the cash award.
The race went relatively incident free with just a few caution flags from that point, until lap 157 when Da-vid Stremme blew a motor. During that caution period on lap 160, Juan Pablo Montoya lost control of his car entering Turn 3 and struck one of the jet dryers that were clearing debris from the track surface. Hundreds of gallons of jet fuel ignited in an explo¬sion and flames engulfed the track surface. Montoya climbed from his car unhurt. The driver of the jet dry¬er, Duane Barnes, also walked away unscathed and was treated at nearby Halifax Medical Center.
As a result of the fire, the race en¬tered a two-hour red flag stoppage. NASCAR officials cleared the track of the jet fuel using a combination of speedy dry, water and Tide detergent. After evaluating the surface, officials deemed it suitable for race conditions and the red flag was lifted.
The race restarted with 34 laps to go and Kenseth in the lead. The race was slowed again due to an accident on lap 176 involving Marcos Ambrose and Casey Mears. Another multicar wreck on the front stretch on lap 187 took out former 500 champ Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Brad Kes¬elowski, Regan Smith, Aric Almirola and others. The green flag flew again on lap 194 with six laps to go. Another incident on lap 196 in the same place on the front straightaway involved Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Ryan New¬man and others. As a result, the race went to a green-white-checkered fin¬ish. Kenseth held off teammate Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on the final lap.
"I have to give a lot of credit to [engine builder] Doug Yates and the guys at the engine shop," Kenseth told NASCAR.com. "We had great horsepower."
It was Kenseth's 22nd career vic¬tory at the Sprint Cup level. He led twice for 50 laps, including the final 38. The win was the 300th all-time for Roush Fenway Racing, the team Kenseth drives for. Earnhardt, Jr.'s winless streak is now at 130 races af¬ter he came up just short with a sec¬ond place finish. Biffle, Denny Ham¬lin and Jeff Burton each led multiple laps during the 500. The top 10 finish¬ers were Kenseth, Earnhardt, Biffle, Hamlin, Burton, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Mark Martin.
There were 10 caution flags during the race, far fewer than last year's 16. The race featured 25 lead changes among 13 drivers. Despite the fire de¬lay, this year's edition of the 500 was viewed by over 36 million Americans in prime time. It was the second most watched in history.