The Dayton 500 kicks off NASCAR on Sunday and the Great American Race from Daytona International Speedway is on FOX on TV and streaming from the Fox Spots Go website online as Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon start up front and this will be the last run for Gordon and should be a very exciting race as the season begins.
Gordon won the pole for his final Daytona 500 and he will be alongside Jimmie Johnson and this comes after he won the pole and now he has the chance to get off to a strong start. No has won the Daytona from the pole in over a decade and that is what he will have to battle with as he tries to get things going to start the 2015 season. Kyle Busch will be out for the Daytona 500 on Sunday after dealing with an injury on Saturday in the Xfinity Race and he is done with a leg injury.
Busch had a hard crash on the track and now he will be out for the race and while he was able to climb out of the car, he needed to be brought to the hospital for treatment. Some drivers criticized the lack of SAFER barriers in some spots and that was one area where Busch was an now he will be out. Kurt Busch will be out after dealing with his legal case and he lost his appeal for that and will be out for the Dayton 500.
Gordon won the pole and set a mark at over 200 mph at Daytona and and the knockout format was criticized by some drivers after some wild racing during qualifying. NASCAR did not use the single car runs for this race and some drivers did not like how things went and now they will be on the course on Sunday. Danica Patrick crashed in qualifying and in the Duels on Thursday and now she will be looking to try and bounce back from all of that.
Johnson and Gordon ended up in the front and now Gordon will try and buck some history, as the last winner of the race from the pole was in 2000. The drivers at the front have had a tough time staying there, as only one has finished in the top five since then and five overall in the top 10. Gordon has some motivation with it being his last year and now he will get his chance.
Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin both had some issues in the Duels and Patrick confronted him after and that came after the two crashed in the Duel. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson won the Duels on Thursday and that gave their team a 1-2-3 run at the start of the race along with Gordon, who had the pole. Patrick was able to come around and finish and she was able to get into the race and she said there was a ton of pressure to do so after the crash in qualifying.