NASCAR – Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Review
The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Daytona once again threw up a surprise, with Jamie McMurray clinching his first ever Daytona 500 victory in the last few laps.
In a race which was red flagged twice due to unsafe driving conditions when the tarmac became unstable at turn two, McMurray found himself in a head-to-head fight with fan-favourite Dale Earnahardt Jr for the trip to victory lane.
Dale Jr had to settle for 2nd
McMurray led just two laps in what transpired to be over six hours of racing – but crucially he led the most important one, the white flag lap. McMurray’s victory also hands the first win to the Earnahardt Ganassi Racing team, since the two teams merged.
In the final moments of the race, the second attempt at a green-white-chequered finish, McMurray overtook Kevin Harvick on the outside, with a little help from Greg Biffle in the form of a push. McMurray was then able to restrain a charging Dale Earnhardt Jr to claim a momentous victory.
Prior to the chequered flag, the 2010 Daytona 500 was already making headlines for all of the wrong reasons. On lap 122, NASCAR officials stopped the race to repair a hole that appeared in the asphalt on turn two. The stop was a lap too late for both John Andretti and Jimmie Johnson, who both suffered punctures as a result of the damaged track. Despite the attempted fix, the race was once again stopped on lap 159 for further repairs.
Incidentally, the track was last resurfaced way back in 1978, and is scheduled for another resurface next year. Looks like they pushed the boundaries on this a little too much!
Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson had a tough weekend – to add to his early puncture caused by the track problems, he retired towards the end of the race with a broken rear axle. He was classified in 35th spot, but this will do little to boost his early season charge to regain his title.
Former F1 star, Juan Montoya did well to finish inside the top-1o. Will this be the season where Juan makes the step up and really challenges for the Sprint Cup? Time will tell.
The full classified results from Daytona are as follows:
01. Jamie McMurray
02. Dale Earnhardt Jr
03. Greg Biffle
04. Clint Bowyer
05. David Reutimann
06. Martin Truex Jr
07. Kevin Harvick
08. Matt Kenseth
09. Carl Edwards
10. Juan Pablo Montoya
11. Jeff Burton
12. Mark Martin
13. Paul Menard
14. Kyle Busch
15. Brian Vickers
16. David Ragan
17. Denny Hamlin
18. Michael Waltrip
19. Scott Speed
20. Joey Logano
21. Bobby Labonte
22. Tony Stewart
23. Kurt Busch
24. Elliott Sadler
25. Boris Said
26. Jeff Gordon
27. Bill Elliott
28. Robby Gordon
29. Travis Kvapil
30. Kasey Kahne
31. Robert Richardson Jr
32. AJ Allmendinger
33. Michael McDowell
34. Ryan Newman
35. Jimmie Johnson
36. Brad Keselowski
37. Sam Hornish Jr
38. John Andretti
39. Regan Smith
40. Max Papis
41. Marcos Ambrose
42. Mike Bliss
43. Joe Nemechek
