Jimmie Johnson, the five time Sprint Cup Champion won his second Daytona 500 on Sunday. He took the lead with 10 laps to go, and held on, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and several other cars tried to pass him on the last lap. Johnson won his 61st race in his 400th start in the Sprint Cup Series.
Danica Patrick ran a strong race, and was in 3rd place with one lap remaining. But she got lost in the shuffle of experienced stock car drivers, and ended up finishing in eighth place. Still an impressive finish for someone who had only raced in 10 races on the top level of NASCAR, before the Daytona 500. Eighth place was the highest finish for a female driver in any Sprint Cup Series race, and she also was the first to lead a lap. In fact, she led 5 laps. Patrick was in the top 3 for 113 of the 200 laps. Of course, she also had the fastest qualifying time, and started the race in the pole position.
On lap 33, Kyle Busch took out Kasey Kahne, which triggered a big crash, also ruining the day for some of the top drivers, including Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick. Matt Kenseth led 86 laps, which was the most of any driver, but he left the race with mechanical failure, along with his teammate Kyle Busch. Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, didn’t have quite enough to pass Johnson on the last lap and finished second. Mark Martin finished third, while defending series champion Brad Keselowski finished fourth, and Ryan Newman finished fifth.
NASCAR has to be pleased with the race on Sunday. Five-time champion Johnson won in an exciting race, over Earnhardt Jr. Patrick, the media darling, was very competitive all the way to the end. However, Saturday was a different situation, with a car getting airborne and crashing into the fence, during the Nationwide race, injuring 28 fans, as debris went into the stands. NASCAR fans are tough though. The fan that was hurt the worst, was taken away on a stretcher, and later expressed regret that he couldn’t watch the 500 mile race the next day. Ironically, he was wearing a Jimmie Johnson shirt on Saturday. So the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season has started off in spectacular fashion. We’ll see if the long racing season can keep the interest that has been started with the Daytona 500.
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