The whole week leading up to the Daytona 500, all the talk was about Danica Patrick after she became the first woman to ever win the pole, but after the race it was all about Jimmie Johnson, who took home his second career win on Sunday.
Patrick performed extremely well throughout the race, leading for a few laps and never falling below 11th place before finishing in eighth, safely in the top 10 in her debut Sprint Cup race. Johnson, the five-time Sprint Cup champion, took home his second Daytona 500 after winning it back in 2006.
"There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I'm a very lucky man to have won it twice," said Johnson to ESPN.com, who won in his 400th career start. "I'm very honored to be on that trophy with all the greats that have ever been in our sport."
The finish for Johnson was the complete opposite of his Daytona race last year, when he got caught in a wreck after completing just one lap. The win also helped Johnson forget the fact that he missed out on his sixth Sprint Cup title last year.
All the attention was on Patrick heading into the race after her pole win and she also set another landmark as the first woman ever to lead the Daytona 500. Patrick was in prime position towards the end of the race after driving into third on the last lap, but she ended up fading back to eighth where she finished the race.
"I would imagine pretty much anyone would be kicking themselves about what they coulda, shoulda have done to give themselves an opportunity to win," she said. "I think that's what I was feeling today, was uncertainty as to how I was going to accomplish that."
The race went on as scheduled despite a scary crash in Saturday's Nationwide series that saw a car get ripped apart and debris fly into the grandstand, injuring 28 spectators, including two that were seriously injured. Daytona on Sunday had a few wrecks of its own, but nothing compared to the magnitude of the one Saturday. The report said that track workers were repairing the fence area until 2 a.m. to get the fence back to normal for Sunday's race.
NASCAR officials said drivers were very concerned about the fans and praised them for sending thoughts to the people that were injured.
"Me personally, I was just really waiting to get the news on how everybody was, how all the fans were overnight, just hoping that things were going to improve ... was not really ready to proceed until you had some confirmation that things were looking more positive," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was involved in Saturday's accident but refocused and finished second to Johnson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
The Gen-6 car made its debut on the track and while there were no major issues it did make the event fairly uneventful. Johnson took the top spot in front of teammate Earnhardt with Mark Martin taking third place. The top five was rounded out by Brad Keselowski, last years Sprint cup champion who was able to get past two accidents, and Ryan Newman, who was driving a Chevy.
The top 10 was finished by Greg Biffle in sixth, Regan Smith in seventh, Patrick coming in eighth, Michael McDowell ninth and J.J. Yeley in the 19th spot.
"We have a hard time finishing these races. Boy, to run 1-2, man, what a day," said Rick Hendrick, team owner for both Johnson and Earnhardt.
Even with Johnson winning, Patrick was a main focus after the race, as she set a new landmark in her already decorated career as the first woman to lead laps in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, which she did as a rookie in 2005. Patrick was in the lead at Daytona for two laps before falling back to third place.
"She's going to make a lot of history all year long. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch her progress," said Earnhardt Jr. "Every time I've seen her in a pretty hectic situation, she always really remained calm. She's got a great level head. She's a racer. She knows what's coming. She's smart about her decisions. She knew what to do today as far as track position and not taking risks. I enjoy racing with her."
