The 52nd running of the Daytona 500 was memorable for a pothole that caused two red flags, which meant it took over six hours to complete.
But it should also be remembered for some great racing and a brilliant finish. It crowned a first-time winner in Jamie McMurray and left many of his rivals reflecting on a race they felt they felt they could have won.
At 200 laps, the scheduled distance, Greg Biffle’s Roush Ford led the field after rocketing past longtime leader Clint Bowyer into Turn 3 two laps previously. In fact, he was a couple of hundred yards from being crowned the victor – only for veteran Bill Elliott (at 54-years old) to slide into young gun Joey Logano (still just 19!) and into the Turn 3 wall, which brought out the yellows and froze the race order.
The pace car leads the field to a second race restart
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
It also meant a green-white-checkered finish, NASCAR’s answer to overtime. When the green flew it was Kevin Harvick, the 2007 winner, who put one hand on regaining the trophy. Harvick believed he had the fastest car in the field, but just needed clear air – and the bottom racing line – to ram home his advantage.
From the outside of row two at the double-file restart, Harvick pushed Martin Truex Jr past Biffle, and then decisively switched to the inside, bullying Truex up the racetrack into Turn 1 and claiming the inside line that he craved. But if Harvick thought he was going to win, he was wrong.
Biffle got sideways at Turn 1, and caused cars behind him to slow down as he caught the slide. In the chain reaction, Kasey Kahne clipped Tony Stewart and rebounded into the path of Jeff Gordon, who was already mad with Kahne for deserting him in the draft earlier on. He barged into the rear of Kahne’s car a couple of times before properly sending him spinning, and he was quickly collected by Robert Richardson.
Robert Richardson Jr., Front Row Motorsports with Yates Racing Ford crashes on the superstretch
Photo by: Eric Gilbert
Under old NASCAR rules, the resulting yellow flag would have signaled the end of the race. But a new mandate to allow multiple attempts at a green flag finish (ie three green-white-checkers) meant the overtime would run and run. Like Biffle had been, new leader Harvick was now the sitting duck at the head of the queue.
The green flew again at lap 206, with Harvick leading and Carl Edwards pushing him on the inside line down to Turn 1. On the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – NASCAR – Stories…