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Matt Kenseth celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race in Daytona Beach, Fla., Monday
The rain delayed, crash marred race finally came to an end Tuesday morning around 1 a.m.
Photo by yahoo sports
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Kenseth wins marred Daytona 500
yahoo sports
DAYTONA FLA.- At about 1:00 a.m. EST, the 2012 Daytona 500 finally came to an end when Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag. With the race postponed from Sunday at noon to Monday at noon and then to Monday evening, drivers were more than ready to get started.
Jeff Gordon appeared to be having a good night when his engine suddenly blew, taking him out of the race. He tweeted, “We’re blowing up. We’re done.” #NASCAR #Daytona500 #Team24,” and shortly afterward, “ Not way we were hoping 2 start our season, but our car was definitely strong. We’ll bounce back & be ready 2 take it 2 them.”
While many were focused on the debut of Danica Patrick, she ended up going three for three, but unfortunately that statistic is for crashes. Last night’s wreck came just minutes after the race got underway. Patrick got caught up in a collision involving Elliot Sadler and Jimmie Johnson. Her car took a hard hit and ended up back inside the garage for extensive repairs. By the time she could get back on the track, she ended up in 38th place.
But the highlight, or possibly the low depending on how you look at it, was when Juan Pablo Montoya spun into the jet dryer truck causing it to burst into flames. Montoya got out of his car just in time, as jet fuel caught fire and lit up the track. The horrific incident stopped the race for two hours, and the driver of the jet dryer truck was sent to the hospital, but was released without injury.
By the time drivers were able to get back on the track to finish the last 40 laps it was already after midnight. Brad Keselowski spent some of that time tweeting to his followers and even took a picture of the fiery accident from his car. Keselowski tweeted, “Fire! My view,” including the picture. He left fans wondering if he was the first to tweet from his car at a Daytona 500 and later joked that the car was stopped and said, “Please don’t tweet and drive!”
Unfortunately, Keselowski became involved in a multi-car accident on lap 187 after the race finally got started again, and ended up finishing at 32nd.
Once Matt Kenseth got started again, he was unstoppable. Kenseth stormed around the track with teammate Greg Biffle who couldn’t pass him either. It seemed that Biffle would come in right behind Kenseth, but it was Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who ended in second place. Biffle ended up at third, while Denny Hamlin took fourth and Jeff Burton finished in fifth.
The 2012 Daytona 500 finally came to a somewhat anti-climactic end after all the drama that ensued both prior and during the race. Now drivers and their crews will be rushing off to Phoenix, Arizona for next Sunday’s race.
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