Daytona 500 fire and rain

In the Daytona Beach Sprint car series opener, Matt Kenseth won his second Daytona 500 from Dale Earnhardt Jr. second, and Greg Biffle third, as a late caution added two extra laps to the total race distance. Pole sitter Carl Edwards finished eight, while Australian Marcos Ambrose came from thirty-first 20 laps from home to end in thirteenth place.

The race finish completed a strange weekend that saw the first inclement weather postponement in the history of the Daytona 500 and a wierd round of pit stops under caution late in the race. Under caution on lap 160, Juan Montoya brought his number 42 Chevrolet into the pits under caution, complaining of transmission problems. His pit crew sent him out again where the car then developed a strong vibration as the car slid out of control at the entrance to turn 3 crashing into a jet dryer, which was blowing the track dry against the outside wall from the previous caution.

The collision ignited the jet fuel in the dryer and set both vehicles into a fireball. Montoya and the driver of the service vehicle both escaped the wreckage unscathed. NASCAR red-flagged the race as safety vehicles arrived on the scene and track. Safety workers cleared the scene after a stoppage of two hours, five minutes and 29 seconds, the event resumed just before midnight Florida local time.

Two days earlier in the NASCAR Nationwide series, Danica Patrick won pole for Saturday's 300 Nationwide Series race at the 2.5 mile Florida track. Pole position was Patrick's first and the first female driver to start on pole since Shawna Robinson claimed the NASCAR Atlanta pole in March 1994. In a weekend of crash and bash, James Buescher kept out of trouble and took the checkered flag under caution with wreckage from the cars of the more than likely winners strewn behind him in Turn 4. Brad Keselowski also dodged the last lap wreck to finish second, with Elliott Sadler coming home third. Danica Patrick exited the race on lap 49, after coming together with Col Witt, her teammate at JR Motorsports.