Daytona 500 Recap

One word to sum up NASCAR's season-opener: Wow!

As a sports fan (yes I do like auto racing), I felt that this race was exciting and there were alot of action during green-flag conditions. With 21 different leaders and 52 lead-changes and nearly 4 hours of racing (not counting the 2 delays), it was exciting and probably one of the best Daytona 500's I've witnessed.

The race started at 1:15 and didn't end until after 7:30, thanks to two red-flag situations involving pothole repairs between turns 1 and 2. The first red-flag lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and the second one lasted 45 minutes. The last time I remember NASCAR trying to fix a track during a race was the 2004 spring Martinsville race (Rusty Wallace's last win) and only was 1 red-flag in that race. It was definitely a good safety move for NASCAR to park these drivers to fix the track especially after it caused Jimmie Johnson's car to have problems with one of the tires.

As far as the race goes, it was nice seeing beating-and-banging, old-school style again because the last few years, races have been boring (ex. Fall Talladega race last year) without side-by-side racing and bump-drafting. Honestly, nobody knows who's gonna win a race. I picked Tony Stewart to win but he had a lot of trouble with his car and was never a factor during the race. He finished 22nd. Jamie McMurray, who drives for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, got the win, fourth in his career and he deserves it. McMurray is a great restrictor-plate driver and knows his way around Daytona and the pass around Kevin Harvick with 2 laps to go (after the 2nd attempt at green-white-checkered) was a key move. Dale Earnhardt, Jr's move from 10th to 2nd in the last lap was also a key but it wasn't enough to win. Greg Biffle finishes 3rd, Clint Bowyer 4th and David Reutimann rounds out the top 5.

Next week, all 3 series will travel west to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. The Auto Club 500 will take place Sunday at 3:00pm and I'm looking forward to race #2 in the 2010 season, which so far is proving to be a great one.