Matt Kenseth Survives Rain, Wrecks and Fire to Win His Second Daytona 500

Monday was a night of firsts for the Nascar Sprint Cup Series.

It was the first time the Daytona 500 had been delayed by rain, the first time a race had been run in prime time and the first time a raging fire had delayed a race.

But in the end, it was Matt Kenseth who was able to get sponsor Best Buy their first win and capture the Harley J. Earl trophy for the second time in his career. He had also visited victory lane on Thursday in his Gatorade Duel qualifying race.

The 54th installment of the Great American Race was to be run on Sunday afternoon, but a wave of rain showers that lasted through the night prevented the race from ever getting started. So Nascar and Fox announced Monday morning that the Daytona 500 would be run in prime time, up against shows like The Voice and The Bachelor. This was expected to be a ratings bonanza for the sport.

Once the race went green, it didn't take long for trouble to start. On lap two, Elliott Sadler accidentally made contact with the back of Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 car, sending the five-time champ head on into the outside wall. When Johnson slid back down the race track, David Ragan T-boned him in the driver's side door. Both drivers were fine after the wreck. Danica Patrick was also caught up in this mess, cutting her Sprint Cup debut very, very short.

Several cars, like Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Greg Biffle and Kenseth all proved early on that they had cars capable of winning the biggest race on the schedule. Martin Truex, Jr was also strong and managed to take home the $200,000 "Midway Payday" for leading the race at halfway. This was also a significant lap because the race was now official and rain was just two hours out.

But weather was the least of everyone's problems.

During a caution period on lap 160, Juan Pablo Montoya radioed his crew that his car had a bad vibration in every gear. He came down pit road, the crew didn't find anything and he returned to the track. But when he entered turn three (at a pretty fast pace to catch the rear of the field), something on his car broke and he slid sideways and into a jet dryer.

If you haven't seen this spectacular video, watch it here. You won't believe your eyes.

Both Montoya and the driver of the jet dryer truck were treated by medical personnel and are fine. But Montoya's car was destroyed beyond recognition and the dryer was leaking a few hundred gallons of jet fuel onto the track. The fuel quickly ignited into a raging inferno as track safety crews fought the flames and the drivers watched from the backstrech under the red flag.

Brad Keselowski added to the weirdness by tweeting a picture of the fire from his car captioned "Fire! My view." Because of that, he managed to gain 55,000 Twitter followers during the 2 hour and 5 minute delay. He tweeted several more pictures of the fire and his fellow drivers while they stood around while waiting to return green. He also lost a race to the Port-o-John to Dale Jr.

The race went back green after track crews did a fantastic job of washing the track off, soaping it up with Tide and rinsing it again so it was in racable condition. Leader Dave Blaney, who stayed out to try and steal a win, was then forced to pit for fuel and see his hopes of a victory in Nascar's biggest race disappear. Matt Kenseth resumed the lead and never looked back.

The race ended under a green-white-checker finish. Greg Biffle had Dale Jr glued to the rear of his 3M Ford, but the two couldn't seem to make a run around Kenseth's No. 17. Dale Jr passed Biffle off turn four for second place, but that was as far as he got.

So now Kenseth will try and repeat in Phoenix next week. When he won his first Daytona 500 back in 2009, he won the following week at Auto Club Speedway and he will be looking for that same magic at the newly reconfigured track in the Ariozna desert, which has proved troublesome for the Roush-Fenway driver in the past.

It took 36 hours ot get it started, but this years Daytona 500 was definitely one for the history books. It had excitement, close racing and even spontanoius fire. It will be really fun to see what kind of action we will see at Phoenix on Sunday.

Are you ready for some Nascar?? Daytona 500 Postponed Until Monday at 7pm.

For the first time in its 54-year history, the Daytona 500 has been postponed due to rain.

The Great American Race was originally scheduled to kick off at noon on Monday, but instead, the rain will continue through the afternoon. So now the biggest race of the year will kick off at 7pm. This looks like a real possibility since the chance of rain will drop from 70% to 30% by then.

So make sure all your rowdy friends come over for some Monday Night Nascar.

This is going to be a nightmare for fans of the TV drama House and both fans Alcatraz will be mad as well because they will not be able to watch their favorite shows, but this will be a very interesting experiment for Nascar. This could very well be the modern day equivalent of the 1979 Daytona 500. The NFL is in the offseason and baseball has yet to start. So aside from The Voice and The Bachelor, what else are people going to watch?

It will also be interesting to see who will give the command to start engines and wave the green flag. Jane Lynch and Kate Upton were scheduled to start the engines yesterday, but they were gone by days end. John Cena was then supposed to wave the green and give the command, but he needs to be at WWE Raw. So, as of now, the honorary starter and grand marshal are unclear.

Overall, this is a great thing for the sport. Nascar takes a lot of crap for a lot of different reasons, but they have made a herculean effort to get the Daytona International Speedway dry so their loyal fans can see a 500 mile race. This will also allow fans who have work or school during the day to enjoy the biggest race of the year, in it's entirety, under the lights. Ratings will be high, so it will be interesting to see if this prompts Nascar to run races on weeknights.

If tonight doesn't work, and it should, the sanctioning body has said that it will run the race Tuesday morning before having to pick up the tents and move the show out west to Phoenix.

The race was obviously supposed to be run Sunday afternoon, but if a primetime Daytona 500 on a Monday night, under the lights doesn't get you excited, nothing will.

McDowell, Blaney, Nemechek Experience "Thrill of Victory," While Waltrip, Wallace Feel "Agony of Defeat"

The Gatorade Duel races prior to the Daytona 500 are a drivers last chance to make the Daytona 500. If you aren't fast enough in Sunday qualifying, you need to go or go home during these 150 mile heat races. Needless to say, this always adds extra excitement for the fans, while the drivers racing their way in undoubtedly pop Tums like they're Tic-Tacs.

To borrow the intro from CBS's "Wide World of Sports," Michael McDowell, Robby Gordon, Dave Blaney and Joe Nemechek are no doubt feeling "the thrill of victory" after making the field for the 54th annual Great American Race after Thursday's preliminaries. But on the other hand, Michael Waltrip and Kenny Wallace missed the cut and took on the roll of the skier from the show's intro, experiencing "the agony of defeat."

The first duel saw Tony Stewart claim the checkered flag, McDowell and Gordon make the field and Waltrip make, quite possibly, the biggest mistake of his career.

The race was much tamer than the demolition derby that was Saturday night's Bud Shootout. A three car pileup that collected David Gilliland, Juan Montoya and Paul Menard was the only multi-car wreck of the day, but there were two single car wrecks that drew much more attention.

After pitting inside of ten laps to go for fuel, Waltrip was making his way back onto the track. A fairly simple task for a guy with as much experience at Daytona as this guy right?

Wrong.

As Waltrip made his way back onto the track, he was confused as to where he was to blend back into the racing groove. He drove from the flat apron back onto the 33 degree high banks which caused his car to get loose and hit the outside wall, destroying his car and any chance he had at making his 26th consecutive Daytona 500. Instead he will be forced to watch the race from the FOX Sports "Hollywood Hotel" and analyze a field containing the three teams he owns and David Reutimann, the man he fired last season. You can watch the video of Waltrip's crucial lapse in judgement here.

The other single car wreck involved rookie Danica Patrick. On the final lap off turn two, Jamie McMurray arbitrarily, and inexplicably, cut down across the track, forcing Aric Amirola into Patrick's No. 1o. This sent her sliding towards the inside wall and into a vicious wreck after making contact with the Safer Barrier. You can see video of this horrific wreck here. Thank God for these softer walls and safer cars because, without them, who knows if Patrick would get to race Sunday, or ever again.

Also on the final lap, Trevor Bayne rolled over and allowed both McDowell and Gordon to slip into the field for Sunday's race. Had Bayne grabbed a transfer spot, Wallace would have been able to lock in o his qualifying speed. But now, he would have to race in the old fashioned way.

The winner of duel number two was Matt Kenseth. This race went green the entire way, but saw some very exciting racing.

Greg Biffle led the majority of the laps, but finished in fifth (but he will still start second in Sunday's main event). Had he held his line and not slid in front of Kenseth on the final lap, he might have won. But instead, he blocked him, which allowed Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson to slip under him and snag the two top spots. You can judge for yourselves and watch the exciting final laps here.

Wallace was in position to make the field, but his team had issues with their fuel pump and as the race wore on, he was unable to stay in the lead draft. So he and his team will pack up and head back to the shop to start working towards next year's Daytona 500.

So now it is on to Sunday. All of the preliminary events are over and all that is left to do is run the Daytona 500 for the fifty fourth time. Last year, Trevor Bayne did the impossible and pull off the biggest upset since Pete Hamilton won the 1970 installment of the Great American Race. Now that pack racing is back and drivers can make closer, tighter moves in the closing laps, there is no telling who will be in victory lane Sunday night.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr could snap his 129-race winless drought by winning his second Daytona 500, Tony Stewart could win the biggest race of the year in his fourteenth try, Bayne could repeat, or someone completely and totally unexpected could claim the biggest victory of their career. We will have to wait 500 miles to find out how this race will unfold and to see who will experience "the thrill of victory" and who will taste "agony of defeat."

Reutimann, Waltrip Get Daytona 500 Rides

David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip will be a part of the Daytona 500 after all.

It was announced Tuesday night that Reutimann will pilot a Toyota Camry for the yet-to-be-named race team that purchased the assets and race cars from the now-shuddered Red Bull Racing. The team will supposedly use the No. 93 and will supposedly be known as BK Racing, a name which stems from the fact that the team's owners also own Burger King franchises. The team also got the Red Bull team owner points with their purchase, which means that Reutimann and his teammate, Landon Cassill, won't have to sweat out qualifying. They know they will start Nascar's "Superbowl"

While the team has yet to make a formal announcement, Reutimann confirmed the good news on Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody. This will be the Florida native's eleventh start at what he considers his home racetrack and the sixth Great American Race of his career. Coincidentally, Reutimann did used to drive a Burger King-backed Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Reutimann has also signed on to drive Tommy Baldwin's No. 10 car for the 26 events that Danica Patrick is not in the seat.

On the other side of the coin, the man who dropped Reutimann like a bag of dirt with three races left to go last season has also landed a ride for this years 500.

Michael Waltrip has signed to drive the No. 40 Aaron's Dream Machine for Hillman Racing. The driver-turned-owner/driver/pitchman/television personality will attempt to make his 26th Daytona 500 start on February 26th. For a guy who started out fighting to just stay in the Cup Series, let alone win, it must be nice for Waltrip to have a sponsor that can write a check big enough so he can get back out on the track to ride around for 500 miles.

Unlike Reutimann, Waltrip will be forced to qualify for the biggest race of the year. His new team has no points and no experience, so they can only rely on Waltrip's plate racing prowess to make their first start.

While the team will probably have enough to at least make the field, ti would sure be something if Waltrip missed the race and was forced to watch Reutimann, the only driver to win in his race cars, racing with a shot to win the season's biggest race from his new home in FOX's "Hollywood Hotel."

This is going to be an exciting, unpredictable installment of Speedweeks, and it all kicks off Saturday at 8pm with the 2012 Budweiser Shootout.

Nascar Must End Owner Points Swaps

When the Nascar season ends, it is a guarantee that there will be drivers out of work and teams looking to gain an edge. These are usually field filler organizations that just make laps to gain experience. The easiest way to do that is to buy another teams owner points and gain a spot in the all-important top 35.

But this past season, we have seen this post season tradition get way out of hand.

In the past, one or two teams would buy the points of a team that folded at seasons end. The key to this is that the owner being bought out must have a stake in the organization that buys their points. In 2009, when Penske Racing bought Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 points, the team's name was "changed" to Penske Championship Racing (though it is still known as Penske Racing).

But this year, Danica Patrick will be attempting the Daytona 500. She has no owner points to fall back on and no ability in a race car. So the only way to get Nascar's new golden girl into the biggest race of the year is to buy points.

A few weeks ago, it was announced that Patrick's Stewart-Haas Racing team would merge with Tommy Baldwin Racing and take possession of the TBR No. 36 car's owner points. This move also allows Baldwin's young team access to SHR's notebook to help them gain on the rest of the field and run competitively when David Reutimann runs their No. 10 car when Patrick is out of the seat. But now Danica is locked into Nascar's Super Bowl without ever turning a competitive lap in a Sprint Cup Series race car.

As if that wasn't confusing enough, it was announced Monday night that Michael Waltrip Racing and FAS Lane Racing had agreed to swap points, thus allowing Mark Martin to gain a spot in the 2012 Daytona 500 field. The next week in Phoenix, FAS Lane will acquire the points from the now-shuddered No. 6 car from Roush-Fenway Racing.

This has all gotten to the point now where this is hardly a sport anymore. Imagine if the Washington Redskins were able to buy the NFC title from the New York Giants or if the Kansas City Royals bought a playoff spot from the New York Yankees. Nascar is a business, there's no denying that. But when it gets to the point where no driver has to earn their keep anymore, the sanctioning body needs to step in.

Nascar needs to do away with the top 35 rule and just have the fastest 43 cars race on Sunday. The Sprint Cup Series is billed as having the best drivers in the world. I'm not so sure that's true when somebody like Danica Patrick can have a spot in the season's biggest race bought for her before her team has rolled into Daytona beach.

Nascar needs to get back to the good old days where drivers had to qualify and earn their keep in the Cup garage. If you aren't fast enough one week, then go home, work harder and get faster for next week. This business of buying your way into the field to guarantee a sponsor is happy is just idiotic.

Does anyone really believe that FAS Lane Racing, a Ford team controlled by Jack Roush's monopoly, now has an ownership stake in Michael Waltrip Racing's Toyota team? That would be like Barack Obama touting the benefits of Reaganomics. It just isn't going to happen.

Teams are breaking the rules right in front of Nascar and the sanctioning body refuses to do anything about it. If teams no longer have to earn a starting position, especially for the biggest race of the year, something has to be done. With a big name like Danica Patrick involved in the points mix this year, hopefully Nascar will take notice and put a stop to it for next season.