RSS
Home
Kenseth wins rain shortened Daytona 500
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 Sunday night while sitting silently on pit road. 
It was an anticlimactic finish to one of the wildest Daytona 500’s in recent memory.
The weather that seemed to be a threat prior to the start of the race wasn’t a factor until 48 laps to go when NASCAR was forced to call the race early.
Kenseth, who started 39th, passed Elliott Sadler just before the eighth and final caution came out. The rain fell in earnest during the ensuing caution, the cars were eventually parked and Kenseth was declared the winner shortly thereafter.
“I was a little nervous because it was Elliott and then Reed (Sorenson) and Allmendinger and all the teammates lined up there and I was able to get outside Elliott a little bit and our car was honestly a fair amount quicker then his and I was able to get a run on him and get by him.”
It was the 17th career win for Kenseth and his first Sprint Cup win at Daytona and is first win since the final race of 2007. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for Roush-Fenway Racing.
“Man we raced hard all day,” said Kenseth the 2003 Sprint Cup champion. “You knew it was down to crunch time but to be honest with you you’re almost a little more careful with your moves with the rain coming, so I didn’t want to make the wrong move and get hung out and finish in the back either.”
Kyle Busch was in command at the start of the race taking the lead on the third lap and leading twice for 88 laps to just past halfway. Busch’s biggest threats came from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
Any concerns that drivers might hold back due to the lack of preseason testing, which NASCAR banned in the off-season, were quickly erased as packs of cars three and sometimes four wide battled for position.
But the entire complexion of the race changed on lap 123. Dale Earnhardt Junior who had lost a lap in the pits because of a penalty for pitting outside the box, was charging up the inside in an attempt to get back on the lead lap when Brian Vickers dropped low to try and block him. Earnhardt appeared to tap Vickers sending him nose first into the outside wall in front of the most of the field. The ensuing melee involved ten cars including Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, and Jamie McMurray all of whom had been top contenders.
After the cleanup and the restart Sadler, who took the lead under the caution, seemed to be headed for victory until the final caution for a spin by Aric Almiorla and final pass from Kenseth.
The rains which had been forecast all day finally fell and it wasn’t long before an emotional Matt Kenseth was celebrating his first Daytona 500 win.
“Just to win another race after our year last year,” Kenseth said. “I didn’t know it I was ever going to do that again and then to pull off the Daytona 500 it’s just unbelievable.”
Kevin Harvick finished second, AJ Almendinger was a surprising third, Clint Bowyer fourth and Sadler finished fifth.
David Ragan, Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart, Reed Sorenson and Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten.
The series heads to California next weekend.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
