The 52nd working of the Daytona 500 was memorable for a pothole that brought about two purple flags, which meant it took over six hours to finish.
Nevertheless it also needs to be remembered for some nice racing and an excellent end. It topped a first-time winner in Jamie McMurray and left lots of his rivals reflecting on a race they felt they felt they may have gained.
At 200 laps, the scheduled distance, Greg Biffle’s Roush Ford led the sphere after rocketing previous longtime chief Clint Bowyer into Flip 3 two laps beforehand. The truth is, he was a few hundred yards from being topped the victor – just for veteran Invoice Elliott (at 54-years previous) to slip into younger gun Joey Logano (nonetheless simply 19!) and into the Flip 3 wall, which introduced out the yellows and froze the race order.
The tempo automobile leads the sphere to a second race restart
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
It additionally meant a green-white-checkered end, NASCAR’s reply to time beyond regulation. When the inexperienced flew it was Kevin Harvick, the 2007 winner, who put one hand on regaining the trophy. Harvick believed he had the quickest automobile within the area, however simply wanted clear air – and the underside racing line – to ram house his benefit.
From the surface of row two on the double-file restart, Harvick pushed Martin Truex Jr previous Biffle, after which decisively switched to the within, bullying Truex up the racetrack into Flip 1 and claiming the within line that he craved. But when Harvick thought he was going to win, he was incorrect.
Biffle acquired sideways at Flip 1, and brought about vehicles behind him to decelerate as he caught the slide. Within the chain response, Kasey Kahne clipped Tony Stewart and rebounded into the trail of Jeff Gordon, who was already mad with Kahne for deserting him within the draft earlier on. He barged into the rear of Kahne’s automobile a few occasions earlier than correctly sending him spinning, and he was shortly collected by Robert Richardson.
Robert Richardson Jr., Entrance Row Motorsports with Yates Racing Ford crashes on the superstretch
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
Beneath previous NASCAR guidelines, the ensuing yellow flag would have signaled the top of the race. However a brand new mandate to permit a number of makes an attempt at a inexperienced flag end (ie three green-white-checkers) meant the time beyond regulation would run and run. Like Biffle had been, new chief Harvick was now the sitting duck on the head of the queue.
The inexperienced flew once more at lap 206, with Harvick main and Carl Edwards pushing him on the within line all the way down to Flip 1. On the backstretch, the scene of so many bumpdraft maneuvers in Daytona’s restrictor-plate period, the essential transfer of the race occurred.
Biffle gave his previous Roush-Ford team-mate McMurray (who had made a poor getaway on the restart after spinning his rear wheels) an enormous push on the surface line, as Harvick clung to his favored inside, permitting McMurray to sail into the lead into Flip 3.
Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet leads Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
Because the white flag flew, McMurray led from Biffle and Truex, with a spot again to Bowyer and a charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. Junior had taken 4 contemporary tires throughout a warning with seven laps to go, and his Hendrick-run Chevy was the large mover coming into the final lap.
Earnhardt and Bowyer labored collectively off Flip 2 and constructed up big momentum, Earnhardt surging as much as second place, and weaving between Truex and Biffle as he did so. Now there was just one automobile to cross, and the chief was anxious: “I noticed the 88 behind me and thought, ‘oh no, it’s an Earnhardt – they all the time win round right here’.”
McMurray needn’t have anxious, as Junior did not catch him by 0.119secs within the closing yards.
Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet leads Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the final lap
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
“It was all a blur,” mentioned Earnhardt. “I used to be simply goin’ the place they weren’t. If there was room to place match my entrance radiator, I put it in there and nailed the throttle. All of us wiggled, and by some means I acquired by way of. Not unhealthy to complete second from twenty second on the first green-white-checkered – it’s superior and it sucks on the similar time.”
Third positioned finisher Biffle added: “I used to be half a nook away from successful the Daytona 500 [when the yellow came out]. Then, on the remaining restart, I really feel I made my transfer too quickly. I had pushed Jamie by way of Turns 1 and a pair of and down the backstretch, pushed us each by the remaining, however then I attempted to cross him on the frontstretch. I ought to’ve pushed him once more for whereas and waited till the backstretch to make a transfer, which is the place Dale Jr. acquired that vast run on me.”
Clint Bowyer, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing Ford lead the
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
Bowyer completed fourth, and admitted he made a mistake selecting the incorrect lane on the ultimate lap that had most likely value him second or not less than third. David Reutimann got here from nowhere within the closing levels to nab fifth, having lastly sorted his restarts when it mattered: “The restarts have been killing us, and I couldn’t do something proper when it got here to choosing the right lane. Fortunately, I acquired the automobile the place it wanted to be when it counted and I had a terrific run all the way down to the end line.”
His Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota team-mate, Truex, completed sixth.
Harvick, who tumbled to seventh, was bitter about how he fell down the order, and fingered the motive force who he felt had robbed him of an opportunity to win: “We had the automobile to beat, and simply zigged after we shoulda zagged. The 99 [Edwards] doesn’t actually know the place he’s going. He went to the center and form of jammed all of it up. I simply want we had somebody behind us who knew how one can draft.”
Matt Kenseth, Roush Fenway Racing Ford
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
Matt Kenseth completed eighth, and the earlier 12 months’s winner struggled towards a “baseball-sized” gap within the entrance of his automobile that most likely answered the query of the place the pothole’s lacking asphalt had gone. Edwards completed ninth, forward of Juan Pablo Montoya, who had a fast automobile however picked the incorrect lane on the incorrect time and was by no means in a position to work his method again to the entrance.
Whereas the racing was of the very best order in restrictor-plate phrases, the outlet that appeared within the monitor prompted a shabby previous scenario. The difficulty got here proper out of the blue, and brought about the primary purple flag on lap 122, after John Andretti had clattered the wall in Flip 2 resulting from a blow-out.
The primary try at a repair did not bond to the monitor, so was ripped out and tried once more, which appeared to work after a delay of 1hr and 40mins. However after one other 35 laps of racing, the reds flew once more because the restore had not solely failed, however the gap had acquired even greater this time. The following answer? Consider it or not: physique filler. And this time it labored!
The prolonged delays meant the race ended, fairly unintentionally, below the lights. This meant that the dealing with necessities of the vehicles have been vastly totally different than groups had deliberate for, as monitor temperature dropped by over 30 levels (F) from the warmth of a sunny Floridian afternoon into a cold winter’s night. Some struggled massively, together with Saturday’s Nationwide Collection [now Xfinity] race winner Tony Stewart, whose 15 race wins at Daytona nonetheless fail to incorporate a 500 success. He trailed house a annoyed twenty second.
Pit cease for Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
4-time and reigning champion Jimmie Johnson didn’t make the end, because the rear axle of his Hendrick Chevy failed. He had struggled with tire put on all through and suffered a right-rear puncture simply earlier than the primary purple flag.
Johnson had run close to the entrance beforehand, and seemed to be sturdy on lengthy runs, however didn’t take the chance responsible his retirement on the pothole: “I don’t assume so,” he mentioned. “We’d been hitting it with the right-side tires, and it was one thing within the left-side that broke.”
Moreover Earnhardt’s sturdy late run, it wasn’t a terrific day for Rick Hendrick’s workforce. Poleman Mark Martin was by no means a contender and got here house a disappointing twelfth. Jeff Gordon wrecked on the final lap of the race and trundled throughout the road in twenty sixth.
Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota struggle onerous on
Photograph by: Eric Gilbert
The mighty Joe Gibbs Toyota workforce additionally upset, with Kyle Busch 14th and Denny Hamlin seventeenth. The latter blamed Montoya’s workforce for “mendacity to us” about what number of tires they’d take within the final spherical of pitstops, which jammed his automobile within the field behind the Colombian: “They mentioned he was going to do two, so we did two and he did 4, so I acquired caught in my pits and rejoined with two previous tires. We acquired screwed, actually.”
One other frontrunner to bemoan pit technique was Kurt Busch, who led strongly within the first half of the race, however fell away badly because the monitor situations cooled. The Penske Dodge star, who completed twenty third, mentioned: “We have been working third however pitted with six laps to go for 4 new tires. Then it was yellow after yellow, and also you simply can’t leapfrog the vehicles from that far again.” Nonetheless, that was higher than team-mates Brad Keselowski and Sam Hornish, who each shunted early on and trailed house within the decrease reaches of the highest 30 of their battered vehicles.
One of many stars of the day was AJ Allmendinger, who began from the again after his engine blew in observe, however the former Champ Automobile star zoomed from final to first in 45 laps in his Richard Petty-run Ford. However a spin whereas battling with Jeff Gordon value him 10 laps within the storage to get his automobile going once more. One other former single-seater man to impress was ex-F1 racer Scott Velocity, who led for 9 laps on well-worn tires after his Crimson Bull Toyota squad opted to pit him out of sequence. He finally completed nineteenth.
Victory lane: race winner Jamie McMurray, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet celebrates
Photograph by: Motorsport.com / ASP Inc.
The person of the hour, undoubtedly, was McMurray. He had gained at Daytona earlier than, within the July night time race for Jack Roush’s workforce, however the emotion of successful NASCAR’s greatest race on his return to Ganassi Racing hit him in victory lane.
In between the tears, he mentioned: “That is actually superior. 4 or 5 months in the past Chip and Felix Sabates [team co-owners] took an opportunity on me, and what a method to pay them again. I don’t know that I’ve ever cried like that earlier than, however that is so unreal, so unbelievable, that I can’t clarify it.”
What’s additionally tough to reconcile is McMurray’s knack at successful with Ganassi in surprising circumstances. He gained on his second-ever Cup begin with the workforce as a rookie at Charlotte in 2002, and scooped the five hundred on his first begin after 4 years away at Roush.
Seems to be like he’s right here to remain this time.
