The Daytona 500 has come and gone and lots of history was made at the race on Sunday, as winner Jimmie Johnson took his second career win at the event, while Danica Patrick became the first ever woman to lead laps at the race.
Johnson was the winner on Sunday and he was able to take the lead after a restart with six laps remaining by riding the front bumper of Greg Biffle to get to the front of the pack. After a crash towards the end of the race, Johnson was able to stay ahead of teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take his second career win.
During the race, a yellow flag it the track with nine laps to go to keep things close for everyone and gave Johnson a chance to make his move. An earlier crash on lap 33 took out a number of stars in the race, giving Johnson even more of an opening later on. The crash took out Duel 150 winners Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick as well as Kasey Kahne, who was driving strong throughout the week. Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya also were knocked out, while Sprint Cup defending champion Brad Keselowski appeared to be out of it, but was able to recover to finish in the top five at fourth place.
Danica Patrick had a fantastic day after winning the historic pole at Daytona, but it could have been even better for her, as she was as high as third on the final laps of the race. She finished the day eighth after starting in the number one position and became the first woman to ever lead laps in the race.
At the start she decided to run behind Jeff Gordon, which appeared to be a smart move, and she was able to overcome a struggle on pit road to get back in the top 10. She finished ahead of boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and was able to show everyone that she belongs on the track at the Sprint Cup.
The Great American Race saw many names finish behind Patrick and kept them out of the win column at Daytona, including Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart as well as Bobby and Terry Labonte. There were a number of past champions who did well on Sunday, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, Ryan Newman, who came in fifth and Jeff Gordon who came in 20th. Michael Waltrip came out in 22nd, while recent winner Trevor Bayne came in 27th and Matt Kenseth came in 37th.
The biggest takeaway from the race is that two-car tandem racing was not the biggest deal on Sunday and that pack racing in the Gen-6 car might be the way of the future.
