|| *Comments on the 2009 Daytona 500:* View the most recent comment <#144> | Post a comment <#post> 1. Neal posted: 02.15.2009 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) What a god-awful race. After seeing good side-by-side racing in the Bud Shootout and the qualifiers I got my hopes up that this race would be similar. It started out that way with 3 different drivers leading the first 3 laps, but then it settled into a repeat of the 1999 Daytona 500 where nobody could pass the leader. I like Matt Kenseth but I find it digusting that NASCAR would wait til after 2am Eastern time to postpone a race at that miserable excuse for a track in Fontana yet they call this one 20 minutes after red flagging it. Now we get to go from a crappy ending at Daytona to a crappy race at Fontana. Nice way to start '09. 2. WallaceFan posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crap. Thats about it. It rains for 10? minutes...they know its going to stop, and they can race later...but no its called. Elliott Sadler led the last green flag lap...but after Kevin Harvick bumped his teammate Sorenson out of the way in the turns he had no chance. The second half of the race was exciting, and im sure the end could have been one of the best. Instead Nascar does it again...its one of the worse. Im a huge Dale Jr fan..but he started a huge wreck and took out most of the top contenders. Great run for my boy AJ..hopefully he can get some sponsorship for the future. Richard Petty new squad looks pretty sharp after 1 race. Again though...Crap. 3. 18fan posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Dale Jr. drove like a moron with Vickers. Kyle clearly had the best car, but stunk up the race. Junior hooked Brian Vickers and took out a bunch of top 5 cars. Half the top 10 finishers were outside the top 10 the whole race. Vickers could be fined for calling out NASCAR. NASCAR clearly favored Junior because Leffler got penalized for something less blatant than the Junior crash. Logano took a hard shot 4. Scott posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Let me the first to comment on the 2009 regular season. It was OK racing, but I was just so frustrated on the fact that no one dared to pass Kyle Busch. Why was that? That was not, in any way, competitive. 10 lead cahnges the entire 380 miles? Come on, there could've been at least 25 or more had anyone had the guts to go to the inside of Kyle instead of watching him dominate. I felt bad for Logano, kid has a lot of promise this year. McMurray had a good chance. I didn't understand why Newman didn't back off behind Busch. HE WAS 2 LAPS DOWN!!! Rule of thumb is you back off and let the others through! Come on. Jr's accident was not intentional. No way would he have done that on purpose. I loved the part where Vickers said that it was sad that Jr needed a caution or something like that. Ha, if he really felt that way, he would've owned up to what he did 3 years ago in Talladega. That was sad. Don't be surprised if Jr wins a couple that year. He is pretty fast, and Harvick too. Maybe this will be different instead of the same 3 drivers winning every week(JJ, Carl and Kyle). And Digger the gopher cam is really becoming a fan favorite:) 5. DaleJrFan17 posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) What a BS race. So many things made this the worst 500 ever. 1.People like Said, Shelmerdine, and Wallace missing the race 2.A Five hour pre-show 3.Kyle Busch being greedy and leading pretty much the whole first hald of the race. 4.Junior and Vickers for failing the field. (Though they took out Kyle Busch so it was a blessing in disguise 5.Officials for being total sissies and calling the race 20 mins afer the rain came. By the way the dopler radar showed the erain goiong northeast and the storm would merely scrape the track. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS! THEY COULD HAVE EASILLY RESTARTED THE RACE AND POSSIBLY MADE A GOOD FINISH! 6.Kenseth ruining Sadlers chance at pulling an upset, and ruining Mark Martins chances at what should have been his victory. The only thing good I can say about this fail is the surprises up front "Hum-Dinger" 3rd this will be his breakout year. I expect a possibly victory this year. Sadler 5th Waltrip 7th Ambrose 17th Andretti 19th. 6. JoeyTheHDK posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) Dale Junior is a moron. That is all. Aside from that, very well done for Matt Kenseth. 7. Anonymous posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) The Daytona 500 should've started earlier like it did back in 1993. Dale Jr was pathetic today. Making 2 mistakes on pit road is inexcusable. Hitting Vickers because he blocked was pathetic as well. I was surprised that Kyle Busch bit his tongue toward Dale Jr. Matt Kenseth gave Jack Roush's first ever Daytona 500 win. It is a great day for Kenseth fans including me. Great run by A.J. Allmendinger. He deserves a full time sponsor. 8. Bronco posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) They should call this race 2008 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Part 2, or the "Matt Kenseth Miracle." Daytona is one of his worst tracks yet he gets to walk away with the trophy. I was pulling so bad for Sadler, and he was so crushed to not win it. Shame on NASCAR to call the race just like that after not even trying to restart the race. They need to stop hyping it as the "Great American Race" if they can't give it the respect that it deserves. 3 streaks came to an end in this race. Joe Nemechek's string of 15 straight 500s ended, and the streak of having a Wallace or Petty also ended. As far as the Dale Jr/Vickers wreck is concerned, I think you need to blame the idiotic "double yellow BS" rule. Dale Jr was trying to merge when he hit Vickers. But really I was so disappointed in him to miss his pit stall and then pit out of it putting him in that situation in the first place. 9. Anonymous posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Guys, it's still raining at Daytona 10. Brian posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Race wasn't anything. And with A QUARTER of it left they call it? Sorry Matt Kenseth but you didn't WIN this race. NASCAR is a corporate sponsor whore. They wouldn't dare mess with FOX and their precious TV lineup even for the biggest race of the year. Not the first time it's happened 11. Canadianfan posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) What a stupid race Matt wins the Daytona 380 not the 500. This is almost as bad as Mikey and the Daytona 267.5 in 2003. NASCAR needs to something about the rain and this race in particular. They need to have new rules in place so the big races get completed no matter what the cost run this the next day it is a holiday already everyone would have come back to see the last 48 laps. But no NASCAR didn't really try to re-start the race they said the rain would stop in about an hour and right now while watching wind tunnel it doesn't look like it is raining at all and it is only 9pm we could be finish this race right now all we need is an hour and a half. But no as long as NASCAR has 50 percent that is good enough for them. I feel sorry for everyone especially for all the people who paid good money and only got 80 percent of what they paid for. I hope for Matt he knows this is a empty win and always will be. 12. samfan09 posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Worst 500 since 2003. I know the rules are rules, but there's got to be a way to make sure the biggest race of the year goes the full distance. Especially today, when they would have had the track dry by 9 and been able to finish it. Also, just a slight mistake on here. Hornish led 2 laps under caution, I believe the Kvapil one. I noticed Jayski didn't have it on there right now, but NASCAR.com does. Great run for Allmendinger. Someone needs to step up and sponsor him. Also solid debuts for the 36 and 66 finishing 25th and 26th, and a tough break for Kyle Busch. I don't like him, but he had the best car all day long. 13. Anonymous posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Can't put full blame on Jr for all the stuff that went on today. His spotter failed to count him down to his pit stall the first time. Second time his crew decided to work on the car, even pushing the official out of the way when he said that the car was over the line. I have no clue what those guys were thinking. The crash was half Vickers and half Jr. Vickers shouldn't have tried to block the 88 into the grass, but the 88 shouldn't have come up so abruptly. Don't think it was intentional, but a result of a lot of frustration. Hope the rest of the year is better for Team 88, because Daytona was disastrous. 14. Zed_3_88fan4eva posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well Lets see......I am truly dissapointed in this Daytona 500...i mean 380 Not only that they called the race after only 20 minutes or so and from what I heard it stopped raining about 20 or 30 minutes after they called it...they tried harder to restart that California race a few years ago than they did tonight. Goodyear from what it looked like dropped the ball, yet again. They should be able to run more than 30 laps on tires. Im obviously a Jr. fan, but what were you thinking this weekend??? Not only missing your stall 4 times this week but wrecking Vickers. Come on you should be driving better than this Then NASCAR shows once agian that they arent consistant with their penalties, I think Jr. shoulda been pentalized much like how Leffler was pentilized in the Busch race. Well for the positives Great run by Allmindinger who I still think that Red Bull made a huge mistake in letting go. How bout Mikey who looks like he may be able to contend for a win this season. Well thats about it with positives. I was hoping that this would be Mark Martin's year...but I still belive he will contend for the title And it was weird to not have a Petty or a Wallace in the 500' It just shows how NASCAR is changing for the worst. Well this race kinda shows why Im starting to lose faith in NASCAR....at least I dont have to watch a more dissapointing race next week, since Ill be at the drag races! Oh yeah why dont Fox bring Ken Squier into the booth, might of saved this 500' 15. WallaceFan posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When did the 500 become a night race anyways? Put this thing back to noon/1est...it starts in the day...ends in the day. It would have ended before the rain came. Such a dissapointing start to the season...and the pre race show? A 10 minute Digger cartoon adventure every week? What has Nascar come too? Lets get back to basics. 16. New14&88 Fan posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) What a uter piece of fail this was,I'm happy for Matt Kenseth and Jack Roush but COME ON NASCAR!!!!!! They didn't even try to dry the track and yet last year at Fontana they kept us up till one-two in the morning trying to keep the race going....and NASCAR wonders why they're losing fans. As far as the Vickers/Dale Jr. wreck is concerned,WHERE WAS DALE JR'S 5 LAP PENALITY FOR "AGGRESSIVE DRIVING",HUH JIM HUNTER AND MIKE HELTON.If Jason Leffler can get docked five laps for what appeared to be a racing deal than surely Little E's slam and run on Vickers is deserving of a trip to the penality box..... .....oh I forgot,it's DALE EARNHARDT JR. and we don't dare penalize him for anything other than pitting outside his box(if his crew had pushed him back he wouldn't of been a lap down to began with). 17. Robert posted: 02.15.2009 - 9:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) JOEY LOGANO - "YOUNGEST DRIVER IN HISTORY TO CRASH OUT OF THE DAYTONA 500" and then blame it on everyone else. 18. Anonymous posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) anyone who thinks that the leffler/wallace incident was just a racing deal compared to the vickers/earnhardt incident is completely naive. the end. 19. Willy on Wheels posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least Everyone from 2nd on back raced like it was the last lap ever since they heard the word "rain" on lap 90 20. earnhardtfan2003 posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not one of the best 500s I have ever seen. The only time they were really running hard was when the spotters told them that rain was coming. NASCAR can't be blamed for the weather and calling the race. The jet dryers were on the track but the track won't dry if it is still raining. The Richard Petty Motorsports team looked great especially A.J. Allmendinger who had a solid week. Dale Jr had a car that was capable of winning today but a couple of miscues on pit road put him behind. The 1st mistake I would say was 95% his fault and 5% for his spotter who should be counting him down. The 2nd mistake was clearly his crew's fault. They should have had him up and to the the left about a foot or so and he would have been in the box but instead they changed tires on the cars even after the official told them they were out. In my opinion that team of his has cost him some wins over the years. This put him a lap down. I DO NOT put the blame for the wreck on Jr. Vickers clearly saw Earnhardt moving to the bottom of the track and dove down to block him forcing Jr below the yellow line. Earnhardt had no choice but to get back behind Vickers or take another penalty. When he came back up he clipped the rear of the 83 car. This was not intentional on the part of Jr if anything Vickers would be guilty. Listening to the commentators one would have to think that DW flip-flops more than a politician. After the wreck he blamed Jr for causing it but after they interviewed Jr he stated that Earnhardt was not the type of driver that would intentionally cause a wreck like that. Brian Vickers has not shown me much on restrictor plate tracks. Three years ago he took out Earnhardt & Johnson to win at Talladega. 21. Ryan posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah really, totally different circumstances. If you block like that you should be penalized also. I put blame on both of them for racing like that being a lap down. I know they were both going for the lucky dog, but it's still early. Earnhardt didn't exactly have control of his car when Vickers came over on him like that and hit him. You would have thought the backstretch was a turn the way Vickers turned left on Earnhardt. All Nascar cares about is money. And FOX pisses me off so bad when they kiss Nascar's butt for pulling the stupid decisions they do. At Bristol in '95 they went past 12 during the Saturday night race for rain. The biggest race of the year and they can't race on Monday to complete the remaining 48 laps? WEAK! Nascar= National Auto Stock Car Association of Rippingpeopleoff... Who cares if everyone won't see it. Race it! This is the biggest race of the year and we go 380 miles. BOOOOOOOO!!! This is why Nascar has been headed in a downward spiral the past few years. This might be a ploy to save on gas and tires as well for the economy. Damn shame, it really is... Oh yeah wallace fan, Harvick didn't get into Sorenson, Kenseth came over on Sorenson and shot him up the track. Look at the replay. 22. Kit posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Kyle Busch being greedy" I'm pretting f****** far from being a Kyle Busch fan, but how in the hell is it greedy to be in the lead in a stock car race??? It is RACING. The drivers don't take turns with each other like a couples ice skating competition. I wouldn't call it the worst 500 ever because at least Michael Waltrip didn't win. But it was a pathetic excuse of a race, glad I missed most of it. When half of the top 10 don't even belong in the top 10, you know there are problems. Kenseth did not ruin Sadler's chances at an upset. Both drivers were trying to win the race. 23. Anonymous posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't feel sorry for Kyle to lead all those laps and end up with a wrecked car. He's wrecked so many others before so he kinda deserves it. You know, at least with Waltrip's 2003 win, he had them covered that day. Nothing against him, but Kenseth is probably the most undeserving Daytona 500 winner ever, after Cope and Burton. Likely the last Daytona 500 for Terry and Bill and both had decent finishes, right next to each other. And a solid day for Scott Riggs and a good debut for TBR. He almost lost the car at the start of the race. Major heartbreak to see Sadler not win after his bad offseason and McMurray to have a wrecked car despite being the best Ford. 24. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congratulations to Matt Kenseth. I know it was kind of a fluke, but Matt isn't a fluke driver. He deserves it. I am happy for him. I don't blame NASCAR for not trying to restart it. You know me, I blast NASCAR a lot, but not this time. It was still raining pretty hard, and it takes a LONG time to dry Daytona. Plus the radar showed a huge rain cell. No sense in keeping us hanging on forever. It wasn't gonna restart. They just need to start it earlier and keep it a day race. It looked like Sadler just pulled over and let Matt go. I don't like blocking, but this was the Daytona 500 and everyone knew the rain was coming. It is like he just gave up. You could hear how down he was on the radio on the second to last caution. I'm telling you, putting him back in the 19 car was a huge mistake. I blame Vickers and Dale Jr equally for the big wreck. Not smart driving by either. Jr made a ton of mistakes in this race. He just isn't focused. 25. mk17ce99 posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I dont understand how people can be disappointed in the fact that Nascar called the race. On wind tunnel, dave had darrell waltrip on and it was 9:45 eastern time and it was still raining in Daytona with more rain on the way. Considering the current Doppler radar shows rain is still in the area and probably will be they wouldn't have gotten the track dried period. They could afford to do that in Fontana because it was West coast. They couldn't do it on an east coast track like Daytona especially since they are calling for rain throughout the entire night. It would be a huge waste of time and fans would be angrier than they already are. Yeah, Im a Matt Kenseth fan and relieved he won today. After a horrifying season like last years it was a relief to see him win his 17th career nascar race at Daytona. 26. Rusty posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe I'm just a homer but I thought Kurt Busch had an extremly impressive run. To be caught up in the Jr./Vickers incident and take a banged up car into the top 10 so quick was impressive. Congrats to Kenseth on the win, AJ Allmendinger needs a sponsor right now. 27. mk17ce99 posted: 02.15.2009 - 10:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 6.Kenseth ruining Sadlers chance at pulling an upset, and ruining Mark Martins chances at what should have been his victory. Thats probably the funniest thing Ive ever seen posted on these here forums. If Elliott Sadler was any type of real driver he wouldn't struggle each and every season to get a top 15 every race. The only one who ruined his chance at winning was himself. And how many chances has Mark Martin had at winning a Daytona 500? Plenty. Yeah it sucks he didnt win, but every time out you cant say a driver ruined it for Mark when Mark cant win the race himself. Kenseth didnt have help from anybody but maybe the rain Gods today, other than that, he helped himself. 28. MGD2Wallace posted: 02.15.2009 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone else think that the FOX broadcast has gotten completely out of hand? How many hours was the prerace show? I don't know because I can't stand watching it anymore. Reasons why the FOX Broadcast sucks: 1. No Ken Squier. He's the best. Always will be. He always made a NASCAR race sound like the most epic thing on the planet. 2. The prerace show has no substance. Two hours was it? It's all fluff and crap that no one cares about. I remember when the storylines had meaning. 3. The graphics. I was watching ESPN Classic's rebroadcast of the 500s on CBS. Now there's credible coverage. I don't care about seeing drivers with lighting around them among other things. Just give me the facts. 4. DIGGER! OMG NASCAR has dumbed its coverage down so much. I don't see any other sports doing cartoons along with their sports. I'm not watching Alvin and the Chipmunks. I'm looking for credibility, not a cheap chuckle. I could go on... Worst 500 in a long time. 29. Kit posted: 02.15.2009 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "In my opinion that team of his has cost him some wins over the years." Totally disagree. Dale Jr. has not had the same team for his entire Cup career. He has made plenty of mental errors in his career that have really cost him. I think he tends to drive without thinking enough. "NASCAR can't be blamed for the weather and calling the race." They can when they will give plenty of chances to run a rain-delayed race out in California but not the freaking Daytona 500. 30. Clayton posted: 02.15.2009 - 11:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Watch highlights of this race and it will prove why Dale Earnhardt Jr is nothing more than a mediocore driver! 31. Goose posted: 02.15.2009 - 11:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not a Junior or Vickers fan but personally I think that Junior did mean to wreck Vickers. Now as for taking out the rest of the field, I think he didn't mean or want to do that. Here's a quote from Dale Jr. that supports that point: â??I donâ??t hate it for him [being wrecked], I hate it for everybody else that got wrecked.â?ť Obviously him in the quote is Vickers. This incident reminds me of Earnhardt/Labonte at Bristol in 1999 when Dale Sr. just meant to "rattle his cage", not spin him out. "Elliott Sadler led the last green flag lap...but after Kevin Harvick bumped his teammate Sorenson out of the way in the turns he had no chance." WallaceFan, Kenseth is actually the one who knocked Sorenson away from Sadler. Kenseth tried to move up in front of Sorenson and clipped Sorenson's left front fender with his right rear fender. When Sorenson let off the throttle Harvick got into the back of him, knocking him out of the draft. 32. 18fan posted: 02.16.2009 - 1:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) None of the top 10 finishers actually started there and vice-versa. Tony Stewart technically started 37th according to nascar.com, not 5th as listed here, as this site doesn't list where drivers start if they have to go to the back. 33. Haywood posted: 02.16.2009 - 2:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) what a pathetic day. the prerace crap has gotten out of hand. the wreck looked like jr was at fault but i watched it over and over and, even though i thought he was clearly at fault at first, i don't anymore. first, he had a HUGE run on vickers. vickers is racing him for the lucky dog, but there's no excuse for throwing a late block on someone running up on you that hard. that's just asking to take out the field. if vickers started the block earlier then i would think it was jr's fault. however, as it stood, i think this was less blatant than the leffler thing. however, with all that aside... why can't they just come back tomorrow and finish??? i don't get it. i've NEVER understood how a race, scheduled to run 500 miles, can just suddenly "end" and then award someone the win when they didn't even finish the goddamn scheduled distance. it'd be like a football game suddenly getting stopped in the 3rd quarter, and then saying "ok, the home team was up by 3, so they win!" it makes NO SENSE to me why they don't try to take another day to finish it off. there was 52 laps left or something, that's a lot of racing. impound the cars, and admit fans stubs the next day. FINISH THE 500! 34. Baker posted: 02.16.2009 - 3:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Goodyear blew it yet again....and you people still want to rip Tony Stewart? Get real. You're all just jealous he's has the balls to stand up for what he believes and doesn't let others push him around. He would have been a player for the win if it went 500 too. None the less great start for his new team. 35. CarlEdwards99 posted: 02.16.2009 - 7:34 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) great to see Jack get his 500 win Just wish it was Carl 36. CarlEdwards99 posted: 02.16.2009 - 7:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Neal, I think you are thinking of the 2000 Daytona 500. 99 was a good race 37. Tony posted: 02.16.2009 - 8:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenseth worked his way from the back of the field and managed to be in the right place at the right time. He passed Sadler fair on the last green flag lap. The rain was obviously too much with the humidity and everything as a factor NASCAR made the right decision. Kenseth won the Daytona 500 and it didn't look like too much of an empty win because he seemed to be very happy. Congrats Kenseth getting back in victory lane. You deserve it! 38. Neal posted: 02.16.2009 - 8:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah my bad, I meant 2000. The year when there were 4 on-track passes for the lead. The year that Dale Sr. called it the sorriest excuse for a race he'd ever seen. 39. John Royal posted: 02.16.2009 - 9:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) lol... I invited my friend who has never seen a NASCAR race to come see the Daytona 500. I have always enjoyed superspeedway races and so I might have hyped little bit this 2009 Daytona run. Luckily I was wise enough not to show him prerace shit and we watched re-runs of Mythbusters. Of course I had high hopes of this race... and too bad it went like this, I'm not so sure if he was impressed :D We just watched Kyle Busch lead the whole thing and ranted about how Formula One sucked. Only good thing that happened was NASCAR's fairly quick decision to end the race, hence it was 2AM here in Finland. I think that this was very predictable way for Matt Kenseth to win Daytona 500, though I must say that I was touched by his emotions. I really can't say anything about the race, It never actually started. I was happy that Robby Gordon seem to survived the Vickers-Jr melee. Thats pretty much it :D 40. samfan09 posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Speaking of Sadler, anyone notice that in the last few twice 2 different "teammates" of his decided to help someone else instead of Elliott? Sorenson was with Kenseth right before the bumps that dropped him back, then Allmendinger helped Kenseth and Harvick. Seems like there may be some ill will towards Elliott at RPM with the way he kept his ride. 41. Willy on Wheels posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the first time someone started last in the Daytona 500, and won. (Kenseth had to go to the back) On a sadder note, Matt Hawkins, an ARCA driver, was shot to death Saturday. RIP 42. Bronco posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't get why NASCAR didn't start the damn race earlier, given the fact that they knew weather was going to be an issue. The race just needed another hour and it would have been over. Instead of starting the race at 2 or 2:30, we have to endure NASCAR Raceday and a crappy prerace show and having to listen to DW talk about his win. A lot of you have criticized Waltrip as not being a true 2 time Daytona 500 winner because of 2003, but I wonder how many of you plan to call out Kenseth for this fluke of a win? Seriously, Kenseth a Daytona 500 winner has about as much credibility as Johnson's 2007 "title." NASCAR gave themselves a real black eye by screwing over Leffler on Saturday and not Dale Jr or Vickers. No one deserved a penalty in those cases. Just wish someone deserving won, like Tony or Mark or Elliott. Interesting bit of trivia - this was the first time Dale Jr started the 500 outside the top 10 - guess it was a sign to come. 43. Darrell posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (2) Totally lame excuse for racing. It was bad enough when there wasn't much passing up front, but having Kenseth luck his way into a victory was horrible. And barely show any excitement over it. Does this guy enjoy his job? You'd think he was there for the paycheck with the way he acts. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to see Sadler lose after the way he blackmailed his way back into the 19 after he deservedly got fired, but I could think of more deserving winners. (Allmendinger, Bowyer, to name a few). Perhaps if we started earlier NA$CAR, we would have these problems, now would we? 44. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How is Allmendinger a more deserving winner? The guy had never even run a Daytona 500 before this. 45. Bronco posted: 02.16.2009 - 11:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I wanted to see Sadler lose after the way he blackmailed his way back into the 19 after he deservedly got fired," That has got to be the dumbest thing I ever heard. It's called a contract in case you didn't know. Elliott signed one in the summer, and then 6 months later they say, "Well, we don't want you anymore." WTF? Darrell What would you have done other than to sue those idiots? Bottom line - If they wanted to fire him, fine. But instead of signing a new contract in the summer, fire him at that time. Don't you dare fire him 6 months later during the offseason when there is nothing available. 46. Rusty posted: 02.16.2009 - 12:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good runs of the day: AJ Allmendinger (3rd) Elliott Sadler (5th, sooo close to winning) Michael Waltrip (7th) Reed Sorenson (9th) David Reutimann (12th) Marcos Ambrose (17th) John Andretti (19th) Regan Smith (21st) 47. Willy on Wheels posted: 02.16.2009 - 12:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) My favorite part of the race was when Kyle Busch wrecked. 48. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.16.2009 - 12:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, somebody sponsor Allmendinger. He did an outstanding job, and has been doing very good lately. Nobody worked with him all day, yet he still stayed up front and finished third. THAT is why they tried to replace Elliott with him. Elliott just totally gave up. He was lamenting his bad luck over the radio, WHILE LEADING THE DAYTONA 500 WITH RAIN DUE AT ANY TIME!!!! He should have been pumped. Then he just pulls over with the race to be over at any second. Its a shame he'll race an entire season and AJ probably won't. He can thank his lawyers for that. He needs to feel guilty before every race he runs. And yeah, I know GEM signed him to an ill advised 3 year contract, but they soon realized that was a mistake. When they said they wanted him out, he should have stepped aside. It is just an incredibly awkward situation. And yeah, the FOX prerace was crap. I'm already tired of Digger, and they still have 13 more events to broadcast this year. I liked the old days when they were rolling off pit road when they came on the air. 49. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.16.2009 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The biggest difference between Matt's rain shortened win and Mikey's is the drivers themselves. Matt is a series champion and yearly playoff contender with many wins on diverse tracks from short tracks like Bristol and Richmond to 2 mile tracks like Michigan and California. He deserves this. Even if you take this away, he still has a Hall of Fame career. Mikey is good at plate tracks and absolute garbage everywhere else. He has never finished higher than 12th in points and never won anywhere except the plate tracks. Take away his plate performances and he has NOTHING. Just a thought though: Mikey wins a rain shortened Daytona 500 in 2003 and Matt Kenseth wins the championship that year. Will Mikey be the champion this year?? Of course not. He won't even finish in the Top 25. 50. Bronco posted: 02.16.2009 - 1:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think AJ will get to race the whole season. If he can piece together another three solid finishes, he'll be a lock for the top 35 and that will almost certainly lead to more sponsorship. I'm hoping Lifelock, Charter, Valvoline and others are watching. As far as Sadler being in the 19 car, I wonder how you guys would react if put in the same situation. Here is an exampl - if you accepted an offer from a college and go there in September, only to have them reject you, what would you do? Also, Moldy Bread had yet another bad run, lol. 51. Mr. Big posted: 02.16.2009 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I'm really not sure what everyone's problem was with this race, aside from Kyle Busch dominating the first half. Did anyone not note how this race was so much better in the first half than the last two (three, really) because there was actual passing? And what is so bad about having a surprise winner? Congrats to Kenseth for the win. Allmendinger had a great run. Congrats also go to Mikey, Reed Sorenson, David Reutimann, and Marcos Ambrose for good runs. 52. samfan09 posted: 02.16.2009 - 2:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What was good about 2003 was that Mikey finally got to celebrate winning the Daytona 500 since he couldn't in 2001. But I agree DaleSrFanForever. Kenseth is a great driver who probably would have won a 500 at some point anyway, has won the Coke 600, won on pretty much every type of track except a road course, and has a championship. Michael Waltrip has 4 plate wins and the occasional good run at an intermediate or road course. 53. matt posted: 02.16.2009 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) a.j.almendinger's best nscs finish 54. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Honestly the Dale Jr/Vickers incident was probably the only highlight of this race. And really the whole thing was caused by the asinine yellow line rule. At Talladega last year NA$CAR set a precedent that they would rather you wreck the guy in front of you than pass down there. Dale Jr was merely trying to avoid getting another penalty. 55. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I don't think Logano was ready for this track at all. He was in the wall in 5 different sessions, in all of speedweeks. 56. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very unlikely that Kenseth would have won the 500 at some point. His best previous finish there was 3rd, and that came last year. Going by the numbers, Daytona is actually one of his worst tracks. Not to mention Ford typically doesn`t do very well at plate tracks, this was only their 6th win in this decade. I would have been a lot happier to see Stewart or Kurt Busch win it. 57. Ryan posted: 02.16.2009 - 4:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harvick with a nice run 58. CHAD posted: 02.16.2009 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I THINK THE RACE SHOULD START AT NOON BUT WHEN THE RAIN WAS CALLED I THINK IT SHOULD WHEN RESTARTED OR RUN TODAY 59. samfan09 posted: 02.16.2009 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenseth's Daytona stats, to me, haven't shown how well he's run lately. 2007 he was he in the top 5 on the last lap, then got taken out in the big one. 2006 he was leading early and had a great race going til Stewart flat out wrecked him. Yes, it's been one of his worst tracks, but he's been improving his plate racing lately. It may not have come in the next 5 years, but I believe that there would have come a year when he won it. 60. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.16.2009 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Kenseth is a pretty good plate track driver, he just has a lot of bad luck. Remember, he had a really good car in the 2006 Daytona 500, but Tony Stewart wrecked him for no reason. It is pretty ironic, because with Kyle Busch out of the race this year and Denny Hamlin damaged, Tony probably had the best car left. I call that karma that he lost to Matt. Really, Matt's only weaknesses are the road courses and Martinsville. Good Lord he sucks at Martinsville. But he is really good everywhere else. 61. Kit posted: 02.16.2009 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Kenseth is probably the most undeserving Daytona 500 winner ever, after Cope and Burton." You have got to be kidding. Ward Burton was one of the leaders for the entire race in 2002. He was in position to win the entire time and did so because the other leaders finally took themselves out. Derrick Cope was in position to win in case Earnhardt had trouble and Earnhardt did have trouble. Kenseth was a little undeserving because they didn't even race 500 miles but he was one of the leaders for most of the race. Waltrip didn't have them covered that day; the CAR Waltrip was driving had them covered that day. Waltrip can't even win on a freaking non-plate track. "They just need to start it earlier and keep it a day race." NASCAR can be blamed for this part. I lost a lot of respect for Dale Jr. after this. Sure, Vickers could be blamed for it partially, but Dale Jr. put himself in the situation by screwing up twice in the pits, then being aggressive enough to hit Vickers when a bunch of cars were nearby. Then Jr. wants to get into a fight about something he is mostly to blame for. Dale Jr. is driving like someone who's getting desparate to win races and a championship. "You're all just jealous he's has the balls to stand up for what he believes and doesn't let others push him around." It's pretty pathetic when a driver has 30+ wins and two championships and he's still throwing fits. All of his wins came on Goodyear tires. Kenseth started in the back and got to the front on Goodyear tires. 62. petty43 posted: 02.16.2009 - 7:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) easily one of the ten worst 500's of all time. Junior was at fault there on the wreck and he really needs to get his shit together he may not be able to test on track but maybe he could practice pit stops. for those people who think he needs to decide between being famous for being famous or being famous for being a good driver i think it is too late. he sucks!!! he is now offcially in the jamie mcmurray martin truex jr and dare i say drian vickers group of drivers. he will never reach the the jimmie carl kyle tony kenseth level again. maybe he could reach the bowyer biffle harvick kahne level again but i doubt it. there are 12 drivers in cup right now i would take over him. he had the race that scott speed should have had. he is wasting rick hendrick's time but not his money because all his loyal fans are blind to the fact that he has not been relevant in about 4 years, he really does have more in common with bill elliot than just being popular he is popular while being bad just like bill was. it is ironic but at least bill had an excuse , his cars were bad!!!!!!! wake up junior and just focus on trying not to impersonate mikey every 4th race or so 63. Dodge posted: 02.16.2009 - 8:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To say that Bill Elliott was a bad driver is WRONG. Bill was OWNING HIS OWN TEAM AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO TEAR UP HIS EQUIPMENT SINCE IT COMES OUT O HIS OWN POCKET. I don' think he was getting as much from McDonald's as everyone else was getting from their sponsors. Also, to link these 2 is crazy. Besides the Most Popular driver awards, Bill has a championship to Jr's none: Bill is a 2 time Daytona 500 to Jr's 1. 64. Bronco posted: 02.16.2009 - 8:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr. for the most part is a class act and a clean driver. When he screws up, he has the guts to admit it. When others screw up, he usually doesn't call them out even though he has every right to. He could have and should have said something about Johnson, Vickers, DEI, Edwards screwing up his fall Talladega races from 05-08 but he didn't. So the fact that Dale Jr. takes no responsibility for the wreck should show just how much it wasn't his fault. Brian had every right to block, but he shouldn't have been so aggressive about it. I find it funny how folks say Dale Jr. sucks but consider guys like Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant, Geoff Bodine, Jeff Burton to be some of NASCAR's best. Yet all those guys have roughly the same amount of wins and stats as Dale Jr. while driving for good teams and having had much longer careers. 65. Kit posted: 02.16.2009 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I disagree, petty43. Dale Jr. still has 18 wins in his record. That takes a good amount of talent. You may be right that he might not be able to increase his wins significantly or win a championship but you can't take away what he has already accomplished. But so far his time at Hendrick has been dismal at best. 66. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @| 02.15.09 - 10:38 pm You got to be kidding me. Matt isn't a fluke driver. He is a worthy Daytona 500 winner based his resume before the race. Keneseth has been a great driver for a while. Matt made it to every chase and finshed in top 10 in points from 2002 to 2007. He also finished in the top 5 3 times during that time. He also has 3 straight years of having at least 20 top 10's in a season. 67. Ryan posted: 02.16.2009 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm going to have to disagree with some of the Jr. bashing. Yeah, he messed up in the pits twice. And he even said him and his team was at fault. You can't expect to get hit and at the same time be rode all the way to the grass and still be able to hold onto your car. Jr. had two options: Keep going towards the grass or come back on the track. One thing about Jr. over the years. He tells the truth. He will tell you if he messed up and he will tell you if another driver messed up. I believe him when he said he didn't have total control over his car when they hit. He still looked out of control when he came back up the track and that was because Vickers hit him. Had Vickers not blocked him and let Jr. go by (it's called sportsmanship) none of this would have happened. Nascar is part to blame too because of the yellow line bs and because they have tried anything different besides restrictor plates. I don't see how all these drivers are able to drive the way they do these days on plate tracks. Darrell Waltrip's first instinct was that he thought Earnhardt wrecked Vickers, but the more he looked at the replays he thought Vickers was more at fault. And Rusty Wallace agreed. That's coming from two objective championship drivers with almost 140 career wins between the two. So quit trying to find a reason to hate on Jr., anti-Earnhardt nation. 68. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "he is now offcially in the jamie mcmurray martin truex jr and dare i say drian vickers group of drivers." Easy on Martin Truex. Unlike McMurray and Vickers, he has never had elite equipment. In his 3 years, the company he has driven for has been in complete turmoil, with the Dale Jr circus and TWO mergers, not to mention a revolving door with front office people. But I agree with your overall point. Jr really needs to do something soon so he isn't just an afterthought on the race track, so he doesn't become all off track personality who happens to race cars unsuccessfully, like Danica Patrick in the Indy Cars. It's kinda hard to figure out what happened though. Although he got a lot of wins on plate tracks, he was also able to win at tough tracks like Bristol, Dover, Richmond, and Phoenix, but now he can't win anywhere. 2004 was his zenith. He won 6 races and was right in the thick of championship contention. But he wilted down the stretch, cussing at Talladega, wrecking himself at Atlanta, and not speaking to his crew chief at Homestead. I compare it to Kevin Harvick's 2006 season. He has simply been average since. It is starting to look more and more like a fluke. 69. Anonymous posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @| 02.16.09 - 9:38 pm Matt is a great driver yes, just not at Daytona. It ranks as one of his worst tracks, kind of like how Dale Jr. sucks at Indy. Look at the way he won as well. He passes Sadler, and then a lap later the yellow comes out and all he has to do is lead a few laps under caution, park his car, sip a Gatorade, and then collect the trophy and the money. You don't call that "win" a fluke??? Rusty Wallace too was a great driver (waaaay better than Kenseth) just not at Daytona. With the exception of 1999 he was never really a factor to win the 500. 70. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.16.2009 - 10:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Waltrip didn't have them covered that day; the CAR Waltrip was driving had them covered that day." Thank you. It is funny that from 2001-2004 both Jr and Mikey got labeled as "great drafters" but they haven't won since the rest of the teams caught up in their plate program and they left DEI. "He could have and should have said something about Johnson, Vickers, DEI, Edwards screwing up his fall Talladega races from 05-08 but he didn't." At restrictor plate races, stuff happens. It just never happened to Jr at DEI because those cars were so strong he could go straight to the front and stay there cause nobody else had the horses to pass him. Since 2005, when the pack caught up to DEI, Dale has been back in the pack when stuff happens, unlike when DEI's cars were so strong. That is the difference. 71. Dodge posted: 02.16.2009 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell and Rusty were good friends of Earnhardt Sr. so of course they aren't going to say anything bad about Jr. Right or wrong, Dale Jr. has a brake pedal? He could of tapped on the damn brake to give him a break. I don't think Dale would of come out and said "Yeah, I wrecked him on purpose because he blocked me." NASCAR would then fine and take points away probably. It's my opinion that Jr. fans aren't the smartest because of Jr. was in Vickers position you guys would still say Jr. is innocent. I bet if Jr. was to go out and commit a crime or get in legal trouble you guys would say that he can't possibly do it because he is Dale Jr. To say that we anti-Earnhardt nation hates on Jr. is WRONG. We know reality Jr. is not a top 10 driver talent-wise. Maybe top 15 to 20. Just my opinion. I do think that Vickers will return the favor to Jr. at either Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond. 72. Kit posted: 02.17.2009 - 1:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "You can't expect to get hit and at the same time be rode all the way to the grass and still be able to hold onto your car." If he hadn't screwed up in the pits twice, he would not have been in that position of hard racing with Vickers. That's really the bottom line. You don't see drivers like Johnson put themselves in the same predictament and then wreck everyone else. 73. 18fan posted: 02.17.2009 - 1:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenseth's worst track is Sonoma. The only reason Sadler and Sorenson were in the front is because the crappy Goodyear tires failed again during Speedweeks. They failed at least 10 times during the 10 days at Daytona. If the right rear didn't explode on Stremme's tire becuase they couldn't run more than 30 laps on a set of tires, Junior might not overshoot his pit, Junior isn't racing Vickers for the lucky dog,the big wreck doesn't happen, Sadler and Sorenson finish 15-20 because that's where they ran, and the race goes longer because of the fluid from wrecked cars, the caution for the Junior/Vickers crash was twice as long as any other caution in the race. There was too much single file racing in the top 10, it looked like the 2007 Talladega races, when everyone seemed content to follow the leader. The race should have come down to Busch, Hamlin, Stewart, Gordon, and McMurray before the wreck and between Gordon, Harvick, Kenseth, and Stewart, but Tony was too far back and was in the middle, Gordon had a flat piece of crap right front Crapyear eagle and he could not recover, and Harvick and Kenseth finished 1-2. This was the fourth Daytona 500 I watched live, and it was the worst I've seen yet. Then, I showed some family members who were at my house the race and it seemed even worse the second time, possibly because I got distressed watching Kyle lead all those laps knowing he was going to get caught up in the Jr./Vickers wreck. Worst race I've seen besides the last 6 California races and 2008 fall Martinsville. 74. 18fan posted: 02.17.2009 - 1:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) About my above post, I'm sorry it doesn't flow very well and I always go off topic. I've always had that problem when I post 75. Baker posted: 02.17.2009 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony Stewart didn't wreck anyone for no reason at all in 2006. You all obviously have memory issues. Matt Kenseth was beating down his door before Stewart did anything. Tony Stewart has never and will never wreck or hit anyone who hasn't hit him first...he just retaliates 10 fold. Kenseth is the biggest hypocrite in the sport anyway. He's all pissy when someone wrecks him, but its always a racing deal when he wrecks someone else. He's the biggest joke in the entire sport. 76. Rad83 posted: 02.17.2009 - 8:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Obviously, by my screen name, you know my driver. Brian was utterly screwed in this race. Here he is trying to protect his position, and Junior has the audacity to wreck him INTENTIONALLY. I don't buy any crap that FOX spews. I'm honestly more angry at them agreeing with JR. than I am Junior himself. DW, Larry Mac, Hammond, and the boring Mike Joy make me sick to my stomack. Put Myers in that category. This race is proof positive that NASCAR desperately neds new broadcasting. I also believe that someone needs to retire and stop wrecking drivers more talented than him. Then to top it all off, Fraud finishes top-10. Read into it. 77. Anonymous posted: 02.17.2009 - 9:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least Kyle Busch was taken out. Whoever caused the wreck, thank you. 78. Anonymous posted: 02.17.2009 - 10:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Tony Stewart has never and will never wreck or hit anyone who hasn't hit him first...he just retaliates 10 fold. " Baker, I guess you never watched the 2007 Pepsi 400 where he wrecked his own teammate and then blamed him for it. Did Hamlin hit him first then? 79. Neal posted: 02.17.2009 - 11:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) C'mon people if all the teams were experiencing tire problems I'd say blame Goodyear, but the tire problems were sporadic. Jeff Gordon's tire problems were directly due to too much camber in the right front. I suspect other teams had similar issues that were related to chassis setup or over/underinflation. If you wanna bash Goodyear for the Brickyard fiasco go right ahead but don't throw them under the bus when a team moronically overstresses the tires with their setup. NASCAR does NOT need another tire war. Drivers got injured and KILLED during the last one because Goodyear and Hoosier didn't give a damn about tire safety. They each got into a pissing match about who could build the softest, fastest tire and the drivers (esp. Neil Bonnett and Ernie Irvan) paid the price. 80. Anonymous posted: 02.17.2009 - 11:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Daytona 500/NASCAR race for sponsors Window World, Ask.com, All Sport , Golden Corral and Aflac (as a primary full time sponsor). Also McDonalds returns as a primary sponsor for the 2009 season making its first Daytona 500 apperence since 2001. With only nine lead changes this was the fewest lead changes for the Daytona 500 since 2000. 81. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.17.2009 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt never hit Tony in the 2006 Daytona 500, Tony got mad cause Matt side drafted off him, something Tony has done plenty, so he ran him into the grass. But karma caught up with him this year. He had the strongest car left and probably would have won if not for the rain. But guess what!! It rained and Kenseth, not Tony, won the 2009 Daytona 500. Have fun paying for the 4 Stewart Haas cars that got wrecked, jerk!! The Goodyear problems this week were caused by excessive camber. The Hendrick cars are lucky it rained cause they would have blown their tires eventually or had to keep pitting early. That is why I say Tony would have won, but he didn't. 82. New14&88 Fan posted: 02.17.2009 - 3:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell and Rusty were good friends of Earnhardt Sr. so of course they aren't going to say anything bad about Jr. Right or wrong, Dale Jr. has a brake pedal? He could of tapped on the damn brake to give him a break. I don't think Dale would of come out and said "Yeah, I wrecked him on purpose because he blocked me." NASCAR would then fine and take points away probably. It's my opinion that Jr. fans aren't the smartest because of Jr. was in Vickers position you guys would still say Jr. is innocent. I bet if Jr. was to go out and commit a crime or get in legal trouble you guys would say that he can't possibly do it because he is Dale Jr. To say that we anti-Earnhardt nation hates on Jr. is WRONG. We know reality Jr. is not a top 10 driver talent-wise. Maybe top 15 to 20. Just my opinion. I do think that Vickers will return the favor to Jr. at either Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond. Dodge | 02.16.09 - 11:17 pm Dodge,you just hit the nail right on the head with that statement...and I say that as a Dale Jr. fan. @Baker-To hear you speak,Tony must be an angel from the Lord,cause an angel definitly wouldn't of wrecked Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards at Pocono in 06 or run Kenseth into the grass at Daytona and then b*tch about other drivers being "aggressive". Like DSFF said though,karma served Smoke a big glass of "PAYBACK" this round.And before you lash out at me I AM a Tony Stewart fan,I just don't kiss the very ground he walks on. 83. Ryan posted: 02.17.2009 - 4:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dodge, It's obvious you wasn't a fan during the 80's and early 90's because Dale Sr. and Rusty and Darrell were rivals. Maybe later in life they became aquaitances or better friends, but Darrell, Rusty, and Dale Jr. have always called it like they have seen it no matter who it is. They have actually raced with plates and know what goes on. Rusty didn't block Gordon in '99 did he? He showed good sportmanship then when Gordon pulled that chicken shit move on him that day. And Jr. did use the damn brake, go back and listen! When Vickers swerved over on him he did hit the brake a little if he did it anymore he would have gotten run over. And yes, Dale Jr. would have came out and said I wrecked him, it was an accident, but he didn't wreck him, Vickers out himself in harms way to be in a wreck and Jr. had no control over his car after Vickers hit him. At 190 mph the slightest nudge can make you really loose. And Dale Jr. was in Vickers' position early in the race and he showed good sportsmanship and "didn't" block Stewart and Busch when they had a run on him and passed him when he had the lead. Also, Dale Jr. doesn't go out and do wrong or committ crimes. I think Jr. will get Vickers back sometime later in the year, and trust me, Vickers doesn't want any of Dale Jr. "If he hadn't screwed up in the pits twice, he would not have been in that position of hard racing with Vickers. That's really the bottom line. You don't see drivers like Johnson put themselves in the same predictament and then wreck everyone else." Kit, It didn't matter if he screwed up or not. Vickers had no business coming down on him and putting him in the grass like that. And yes, I have seen Johnson and other good drivers make mistakes on pit road, they aren't put under a microscope like Dale Jr is. That's the only difference. And I have seen good drivers wreck people. Johnson has started the big one twice at Talladega. Stewart and Skinner did something similar in the first Talladega race in 1999. Ask Bobby Labonte about Gordon wrecking him and others at 'dega. Ernie Irvan almost killed Dale Sr at 'dega. Darrell Waltrip wrecking Davey at Pocono in 1992. Stewart made a fool of himself at Daytona in 2006, so yeah, I've seen a lot of good drivers wreck people, only difference is Vickers is decent and not good. 84. DaleJrFan17 posted: 02.17.2009 - 6:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Whoever was saying Jr sucks at Indy is just plain retarded. He is fairly good at it and has been at the front for the last two, until some troubles struck. And you know what guys. Y'all get all pissy about one frickin wreck he causes and announce him as the Steve Wallace of Sprint Cup. Thats pitiful. He is almost always a clean driver, i mean yeah hes had his moments but overall, he races clean. And you know what, everyone makes mistakes. And this race was pretty much one mistake after another for him. And the next time mistakes like this occur to another driver, you'll feel pity probably. Thats my two cents so go ahead and backlash 85. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.17.2009 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Sr and Rusty were very good friends as far back as the 80s. On a race from Dover in 1989 that I taped off ESPN Classic, they showed a pre taped interview with Dale asking him something along the lines of "What happens if your good friend Rusty beats you for the championship?" They were friends off track while still being rivals on track for a long time. 86. mk17ce99 posted: 02.17.2009 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) to indirectly quote Tony Stewart. He said, we all knew the rain was coming, and we all had a shot at winning today. Everyone knew what they had to do and Matt took care of it, he won fair and square. People need to lay to rest that Kenseth is a fluke driver and every time he wins its a joke. Either he flat out dominates a race or because he goes against what is "popular" or because he beats the likes of Gordon, Earnhardt Jr and Stewart, he's criticized for it. Sorry he can dominate a race and make it "boring". Sorry your drivers weren't good enough or couldn't position themselves to dominate. Sorry they had to win the race by a last lap pass or by wrecking somebody. Kenseth is the sole reason Nascar has a chase. So that fans driver's who are so far gone from possibly winning the championship still have a chance. 87. Dodge posted: 02.17.2009 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan, you're a Jr. fan, right. Looking at the posts that have been posted, it seems that a lot of Jr's fans are also saying its his fault. Some Jr. fans can't look at it objectively. All that I meant in one of my previous posts is that IF Jr. was to commit a crime, you would be dumb enought to say he didn't do it even if it came out that he did. KEYWORD is IF. 88. Rob posted: 02.18.2009 - 1:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a huge collection of old races. This past week I watched some Daytona 500s from years past. The ones I watched were 1981-Richard Petty's 7th win 1988-Bobyy and Davey battle for the win (also my favorite) 1993-The Dale and Dale Show 1998-Dale Finally does it 2002-very fun final 50 laps or so 2004-Dale Junoir wins 2007-Harvick Edges Martin So after watching all these great 500's and thinking how the last two years both Daytona races have had great finishes. How do you think I felt when they said it was over. They knew there was a chance of rain. In fact the Tuesday before the 500 on a message board someone posted a weather forecast for Daytona and guess what it called for Sunday? If you said rain you would be correct. Rather than pushing the race up an hour or so like they have done in the past they start the race on time and it does not go all the way. So what was on the pre-race show that was so important that they could not start the race earlier? Lets see there was Darrell Waltrip running his mouth, Lets Go Racing Boys Song, Darrell Waltrip running his mouth, a concert, Darrell Waltrip running his mouth, a cartoon starring a gopher, and Darrell Waltrip running his mouth. So the Daytona 500 starts finally and we see exciting racing for the first couple of laps before Kyle Busch takes the lead which he pretty much holds until he crashes out this leads to Elliot Sadler taking the lead which he holds until Kenseth passes him. Then it rains and less than twenty minutes later NASCAR decides to pull the plug. Oh well next week is California which should easily make up for the fact that the Daytoan 500 ended early since California has such a great history of exciting 4 wide racing all race long and is much better than that place Rockingham it replaced. By the way if you can not tell, I was being sarcastic with that last bit about California and I am expecting it to pick up where Daytona left off. 89. Neil Wooding posted: 02.18.2009 - 3:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt Kenseth's official starting position was 39th but being one of 7 drivers to go to back-up cars he actually crossed the green flag in the last spot. Can't think of anyone winning from that position - even if it was the 380 and not the 500, there was a neat symmetry about the #17 winning 20 years after DW 90. Kit posted: 02.18.2009 - 3:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "To say that Bill Elliott was a bad driver is WRONG. Bill was OWNING HIS OWN TEAM AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO TEAR UP HIS EQUIPMENT SINCE IT COMES OUT O HIS OWN POCKET." Bill Elliott is one of my very favorite drivers and I had ALL of this die cast cars back in the late 80s and early 90s and I still have them. The only "bad" thing I think I could say about Elliott was that he was never a strong short track racer. Funny thing is, Rusty Wallace was the complete opposite: very strong on short tracks but not strong on the big speedways. "So the fact that Dale Jr. takes no responsibility for the wreck should show just how much it wasn't his fault. Brian had every right to block, but he shouldn't have been so aggressive about it." Bronco, this is "Dale Jr is Jesus" logic. Let's put it this way: just because someone has a clean driving record, then gets clocked going 90 in a 55, doesn't mean he wasn't going 90 in a 55 just because he has a clean driving record. But that's what you're trying to say here. "Yet all those guys have roughly the same amount of wins and stats as Dale Jr. while driving for good teams and having had much longer careers." Rudd, Gant, Bodine, and Burton never had the quality of equipment, money, and support that Dale Jr. has had. I think Dale Jr. is talented, but if he drove in their cars in their era, he might only have half the wins he has now. DaleSrFanForever, you really nailed it. Dale Jr. will start to turn into the Danica Patrick of NASCAR if he doesn't step up soon. "Tony Stewart has never and will never wreck or hit anyone who hasn't hit him first...he just retaliates 10 fold." The problem with Stewart is that he'll retaliate even when someone hit him unintentionally. "He's the biggest joke in the entire sport." Uhh, no, you are thinking of Michael Waltrip. "Vickers had no business coming down on him and putting him in the grass like that." Jr.'s screw-ups started it all. If he had used his head a little more, he would not have been anywhere near Vickers. Yes, Vickers probably could have done more to avoid the wreck from happening, but Dale Jr. put himself in that situation in the first place. Like Kyle Busch said (the first time I've ever paraphrased Kyle Busch), he turns his bad day into everyone else's bad day. "Kenseth is the sole reason Nascar has a chase." NASCAR already had plans in the work for the Chase before Kenseth won his championship. It didn't just happen in the span of a few months. They took the opportunity of the Cup sponsorship switch to make the change. I don't blame Kenseth for winning the race, I just wish the race was a 500 mile race. 91. Baker posted: 02.18.2009 - 3:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You people are still clueless. Kenseth was side drafting Stewart until he hit his door...Stewart hit him BACK, not first. Clint Bowyer sandwiched Tony into the wall coming out of turn 3...Stewart hit him BACK, not first. Carl Edwards was just an innocent victim. He was right in his retaliation as well. I had no beef with Edwards for taking a shot at Tony afterwards. 92. mk17ce99 posted: 02.18.2009 - 7:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You people are still clueless. Kenseth was side drafting Stewart until he hit his door...Stewart hit him BACK, not first. Clint Bowyer sandwiched Tony into the wall coming out of turn 3...Stewart hit him BACK, not first. If you knew anything about the incident you would realize that Kenseth never touched Stewart. Kenseth side drafted stewart and never once hit his door at all. Stewart hit kenseth FIRST, not the other way around, and could have seriously hurt Kenseth or any other driver who could have been involved. 93. Neal posted: 02.18.2009 - 9:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rob - Put down the pipe. California (and it's ugly older sister Michigan) produce some of the worst racing in NASCAR. You get 3 & 4-wide racing for a few laps after the green flag and then the field is all spread out. Close finishes? Not exactly. Most of the races at Fontana have been won by a half second or more. Jeff Gordon won the 2004 Auto Club 500 by almost 13 seconds. Wow...nailbiting. If Cali was such a great track they'd consistently sell out, not have 1/3 of the seats empty. Cali sucks and the sooner Brian France and the rest of the mental midgets at NASCAR realize it, the better. 94. Neal posted: 02.18.2009 - 9:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And I'm an idiot for missing your sarcasm. My apologies. :) 95. Turn 4 posted: 02.18.2009 - 9:23 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another fact is that David Stremmie's #12 car actually had no sponsor because of NASCAR's rule of not allowing rival telecommications companies sponsoring cars. 96. New14&88 Fan posted: 02.18.2009 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Edwards was just an innocent victim. He was right in his retaliation as well. I had no beef with Edwards for taking a shot at Tony afterwards. Baker | 02.18.09 - 3:32 am If every driver followed your logic on "payback" Baker,there'd be nobody running at at the finish of the race. To my fellow Jr. fans,STOP MAKING THE MAN INTO A GOD.Kit is right,if his crew had just pushed him back behind the pit line instead of going ahead and changing tires(and pushing a NASCAR offical out of the way),he wouldn't of been in that situation to begin with.Yes Vickers was wrong for blocking him that aggressivly(Robby Gordon was in the lucky dog spot anyways)but Jr. should of used better judgement and BACKED OFF instead of just turning into him. Remember the old saying "it takes two to tangle" well Vickers and Dale Jr. were those two...they tangled and it ended up costing the field(especially Kyle Busch and Jmac) dearly. 97. Ryan posted: 02.18.2009 - 9:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well DaleSr fan, they may have been friends at times, but they sure wasn't at Bristol in '95 at the night race. Tell me if Rusty talked to Dale any that week? I didn't think so. Rusty even talked during that time that he would never forget how Dale turned him at 'dega. Now, I put most of the blame on Nascar for that particular wreck, for having a 2 lap restart to end the race when they called a late caution for a mist, but Dale got a lot of the blame for that wreck. But they weren't always friends. Rusty also felt Dale did him dirty by going with Gordon in the '99 Daytona 500 instead of Rusty. So, they didn't always see eye to eye on things. Dodge, My middle name is Objective. Who cares if Jr. mades mistakes, it doesn't matter if he made 10 mistakes. When someone makes a hard left on you and hits you then that someone is putting himself in harm's way. And that's what happened. If Vickers doesn't block like he does then there is no discussion about this. If he would have used good sportsmanship by letting Dale Jr. go and perhaps try to get back around him the next time around we never have this discussion. And that's final. 98. Dodge posted: 02.18.2009 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hmmm, Jr. blocks a lot also at the Superspeedways. The other drivers use their HEAD and use cation until they get a greater run that Jr. has no chance at blocking. Put it like his Ryan: From what I read on other sites, people are saying that Jr. was wrong. The reason I have an issue with it is that NASCAR was not consistnt with penalties. I don't like Leffler but he got penalized for wrecking someone but Jr. who it looks like he wrecked Vickers intentionally got nothing. I guess having the last name Earnhardt saved him. And Leffler was above the yellow line where he was supposed to be and Jr. wasn't. Vickers was wrong, yes, but Jr. was more wrong. I guarantee if I ran NASCAR Jr would of been in the garage and he would of been required to pay for all of the damage that HE caused. 99. Red posted: 02.18.2009 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was the anti-climax of anti-climaxes. Not only was it called 48 laps short of the full distance, but 22 of the final 33 laps were run under caution. I can honestly say I've never felt more ripped off by a Cup race than I did trying to watch this train wreck. 100. Kit posted: 02.18.2009 - 11:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "good sportsmanship by letting Dale Jr. go" So is it good sportsmanship to let the other football team score a touchdown if they are behind? 101. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.19.2009 - 1:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan, yes they got mad at each other at Bristol in 1995, but that doesn't mean they weren't friends. I'm sure they went a while without talking after that, but does that make them any different from most people? If getting mad at each other occasionally means you aren't friends, then I've never had any friends, and I've sure as hell never had a girlfriend. But Talladega 1993 was undoubtably NASCAR's fault. That had disaster written all over it. 102. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.19.2009 - 1:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 2009 Paul Menard 20th or worse count: 1 103. BON GORDON posted: 02.19.2009 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was very upset that this race couldn't get back under green. Jeff Gordon had a car good enough to win. I don't know how I feel about it ending with around 50 laps to go. I say to myself, "This should be the one and only race that we have to complete. It's the Daytona 500 man! Our Superbowl! I don't care if we had to race the next day that is what we should have done." However if that had been Gordon instead of Kenseth in victory lane I wouldn't be singing the same song. I don't know guys, it's tough to call. I guess Matt Kenseth won it fare and square so congrats to him. As far as the Dale Jr. and Brain Vickers incident I think it's both of their faults. Vickers shouldn't have made a very agressive move to block Jr. and Jr. should have backed off the gas to avoid the incident. That's just my opinion. Off to California and all I want to see some side by side racing and a top 10 for Gordon. 104. Dodge posted: 02.19.2009 - 3:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If the race restarted, Letart would of screwed up with Gordon's car and he would of struggled. 105. mk17ce99 posted: 02.19.2009 - 5:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think Jr is squarely to be blamed for the accident. All he had to do is roll out of the throttle. Its that simple. Jr said he was trying to get back in line but you cant do that when your below the yellow line and you are beside him. At the time when Vickers blocked, Jr didnt even have the position, so he wasn't forced below the yellow line. Jr made a pretty bad move and a lot of people suffered the consequence. I dont blame Vickers for blocking at all, they were both a lap down. What was Vickers supposed to do? Step down and allow the "King" of Nascar to blow right by him. Yeah right....... 106. DaleSrFanForever posted: 02.19.2009 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One thing though, Brian Vickers doesn't need to complain for one second about that accident, because he got his only Cup win by doing the same thing. He also won the Winston Open one year by wrecking someone on the straightaway. So he doesn't need to call for anyone to be penalized, unless he wants to give back his only win and the money he got in the Winston that year. 107. Ryan posted: 02.19.2009 - 8:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Look at the replays again "mk17ce99" and I mean all of them. Earnhardt was already under his quarter panel when Vickers came down on him and made contact with Dale, and Dale did slow down. You can actually hear it on the replay. It's this simple if Vickers doesn't block and make contact with Dale and get him loose then none of this is ever spoken about. And Dale Sr. fan is right if people want to let Vickers off the hook. Nothing was ever said to him or was never penalized for taking out two championship contenders on the last lap at Talladega in 2006. But since his name is Earnhardt we all have to put him under a micrscope and punish him. Sounds like we have some vindictive people towards the Earnhardt family. And people, I don't think Jason Leffler should have got penalized at all Saturday, but what Vickers did was a whole lot worse than what Leffler did. And Kit, we're talking about racing here bro, not football. Besides, if Vickers was a real racer he would tried to get back around him the next time around or another time. That has to be the most blatent block of all time. You would have thought the backstretch was a turn the way he turned hard to the left. I bet he doesn't block like a sonofabitch like that again. Dodge fan, that's why you don't run Nascar, because you are non-objective, and only see it against the Earnhardt's. 108. Kit posted: 02.20.2009 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "we're talking about racing here bro, not football." You missed my point entirely. Racing is a competitive sport, just like football. Vickers had a reason to race Earnhardt; from what I understand, they were both trying to get their lap back. Vickers wouldn't be much of a race car driver if he's just going to let another driver by like that when they are racing for position. Did he do the right thing? No, but the blame falls on both of them. Maybe if Dale Jr. would step up to the plate and start driving like someone in a Hendrick car with 18 career wins, he's be banging door to door with Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, not Brian Vickers. We can argue about the wreck all day and night, but the real issue is that Dale Jr. has been a real underachieving driver as of late. 109. Dodge posted: 02.20.2009 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ryan, I was a fan of Earnhardt Sr. I just don't think Jr. will be a champion. The more you defend a driver that has all of the equipment to contend for championships but he chokes year in and year out, the more you sound like an a**hole by blaming Vickers. Also, the difference between the incident in 2006 and Sunday, is that they WERE RACING FOR THE WIN, NOT THE LUCKY DOG. I think Jr. is so hyped by the media and he hasn't deserved any of it. Lastly, if I ran NASCAR every driver would be treated the same EVEN IF YOUR LAST NAME IS EARNHARDT OR YOU DROVE FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. If that was almost any other driver YOU know there would of been a penalty, but thats what happens when you are Dale Jr., you get NO penalty. 110. Bronco posted: 02.21.2009 - 1:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You know I was just thinking of it and Brian has cost Dale Jr not one, but two Talladega races. In the 2004 spring race Dale Jr was passing Gordon when Vickers spun, bringing out the caution that ended the race. As far as I'm concerned whether the wreck was accidental or not Brian had it coming. Kit, What Brian did during the race was blocking and thats perfectly legal. Everyone blocks during a plate race. Thing is, you don't block a car that is travelling much faster than you are. When Dale Jr made his move he was 179 and Brian was at 174, and Brian pushed him all the way below the line. Once he pushed Dale Jr as far as he could go, he moved back up to merge with traffic and Dale Jr who was still much faster nudged his bumper. If it weren't for the dumb out of bounds rule, Dale Jr could have probably finished the pass. I don't think either driver should have been penalized and neither should Leffler. NASCAR needs to get their heads out of their butts and stop policing the drivers with all these idiotic rules and penalties and fines. The yellow line rule is simply idiotic and just hurts the racing. It doesn't even prevent wrecks because how many Big ones were caused by drivers going below the line in the 90s? Just let the drivers race, and let them say what they want to say. I also think just because Dale Jr. was involved in the crash everyone seems to pounce on him. Let's not forget that even the great Carl and Jimmie have also caused restrictor plate wrecks. 111. mk17ce99 posted: 02.21.2009 - 2:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To the ever intelligent ryan Look at the replays again "mk17ce99" and I mean all of them. Earnhardt was already under his quarter panel when Vickers came down on him and made contact with Dale, and Dale did slow down. You can actually hear it on the replay. It's this simple if Vickers doesn't block and make contact with Dale and get him loose then none of this is ever spoken about. I dont know what replay you were watching, but the one I watched which is the official 2009 Daytona 500, had Earnhardt Jr in the throttle the entire time. He never backed out. What did he think it would be ok to tap Vickers in the side and there be no consequence? Give it up, Jr wrecked the entire field. So I guess Vickers should just allow Jr to blow right past him? Thats not racing. Basically what that is, is, oh, ok, you have a run on me so I'll let you pass because I think you deserve to win more than I do! 112. Willy on Wheels posted: 02.21.2009 - 8:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At least the wreck stopped Cryle Busch from winning. Thank you, Dale Jr. Anyways, will someone please fire Reed Sorenson and put in AJ Allmendinger? AJ is Petty Racing's 2nd best driver (behind Kasey Kahne) and he really deserves a chance, now that he has decent equipment. 113. Ask96 posted: 02.21.2009 - 10:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First race for Bobby Labonte in his new ride at Yates-HOF Racing. Though I give congrats to Matt for his win, I still felt Bobby could have made his way back to the front. Hopefully, Bobby will be given the opportunity to pilot a decent enough car to victory lane this season. 114. Anonymous posted: 02.22.2009 - 12:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race is the first one an MSRP Motorsports car has actually finished. I'm guessing the business case for actually racing gets better when you get over a quarter-million for doing so. 115. 18fan posted: 02.22.2009 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Willy on Wheels, Sorenson would have finished higher than Allmendinger if Reed and Kenseth didn't make contact and Sorenson lost his drafting help. Also, Leffler did not deserve any penalty 116. Bronco posted: 02.22.2009 - 2:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "So I guess Vickers should just allow Jr to blow right past him?" That's exactly what Brian should have done since Dale Jr was going much faster. Look at the finish to last year's Daytona 500. Did Tony move up and block Newman and wreck the whole field? No, he knew that Newman was going to blow by him and there was nothing he could do about it. Like I said earlier, I don't have a problem with Brian blocking, but don't do that to a car going much faster than you are. And if you do, prepare to get wrecked. 117. Kit posted: 02.23.2009 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "When Dale Jr made his move he was 179 and Brian was at 174" Brian Vickers does not have a radar gun that keeps track of speeds of cars behind him. Dale Jr. had no business being that far back in the pack with a Hendrick car. 118. Bronco posted: 02.23.2009 - 7:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Brian Vickers does not have a radar gun that keeps track of speeds of cars behind him." True, but if you're gonna block it's your job to get an idea of how fast the car behind you is moving. Or your spotter's job. "Dale Jr. had no business being that far back in the pack with a Hendrick car." That's besides the point, he made a mistake and was driving his ass off to make it up. And what about Johnson? He was an average car at best, wasn't he also at the back of the pack? Bottom line - regardless of who you drive for, if you have a bad car or screw up in the pits you'll be at the back. 119. kup posted: 02.24.2009 - 3:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Reutimann finished 12th in both Daytona races: Wide & Cup. 120. Matt posted: 03.04.2009 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #66 car owner was Phil Parsons. 121. jp posted: 05.15.2009 - 9:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) This just proves Daytona is a lame track... IT HAS BEEN SINCE '59!!!!! 122. jp posted: 06.20.2009 - 9:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Not to be offensive, but NASCAR, as I hate so much to say this, has turned into BS. At the '07 500, they just had to let the younger of the drivers win. They're knocking the underdogs down another peg or two LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. Why dont we see any upsett's??? Because NASCAR has their heads up their ass and dont know a frikkin' thing. Why did they take North Wilkesboro and Rockingham and others off the circuit? Money. NASCAR rakes in big bucks to hire all these singers and dancers and what-have-you to get 3 and 4 hour pre-race shows, only to knock other tracks right off the schedule. And the fines. Carl Long fined $200,000 for an engine that was .17 over the limit. Jeremy Mayfield getting stabbed in the back by everyone. Waltrip,R.Gordon,ETC;. Sponsorship oppertunities going south. Race teams folding. Hardly any upsets any more. PEOPLE, WHAT HAS BECOME OF NASCAR!!!!???!!?????!!! 123. jp posted: 09.02.2009 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some notes: 36-Scott Riggs- SURPRISE OF DAYTONA!! 41-Jeremy Mayfield- 2nd. Distant 2nd. 44-A.J Allemendinger- IDK. And the Honorable Mentions: 87-Joe Nemecheck- Coulda easily cleared Riggs if it had'nt been for the 7 in Qualifyer 1. 09-Brad Keselowski- He done well in #1, but not good enough. 71-Mike Wallace- I can't believe he did'nt make the field. 75-Derrike Cope- If it would have rained, he could have easily used his Past Champions Provisional to get in, as well as Dover. 64-Geoff Bodine- Same as Cope. 23-Mike Skinner- He should have got in, cause he's one of the best drafters. See ya later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 124. Spen posted: 10.15.2009 - 10:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last I checked, the PCP is for drivers who have won a *championship*, not the event. 125. jp posted: 11.10.2009 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) so. 126. luigistarted06 posted: 01.27.2010 - 11:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) One thing that made it so much worse is about the rain out is I don't think anybody had any idea who would have won if the race went back green. The dominant car of Kyle Busch was out, and no one else was really consistantly in the lead all day other than Elliott, which was all off of fuel strategy. Oh, and if the rains came 30 seconds earlier Elliott Sadler would have been your Daytona 500 winner. Crazy stuff 127. Ryan posted: 07.05.2010 - 3:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I dont know what replay you were watching, but the one I watched which is the official 2009 Daytona 500, had Earnhardt Jr in the throttle the entire time. He never backed out. What did he think it would be ok to tap Vickers in the side and there be no consequence? Give it up, Jr wrecked the entire field. So I guess Vickers should just allow Jr to blow right past him? Thats not racing. Basically what that is, is, oh, ok, you have a run on me so I'll let you pass because I think you deserve to win more than I do! " Well, youtube has a bunch, Jr. either dropped out of the throttle or tap the breaks. All I can tell you is go listen moron. But you probably don't want to see or hear the truth. 116. Bronco posted: 02.22.09 - 2:29 am "So I guess Vickers should just allow Jr to blow right past him?" "That's exactly what Brian should have done since Dale Jr was going much faster. Look at the finish to last year's Daytona 500. Did Tony move up and block Newman and wreck the whole field? No, he knew that Newman was going to blow by him and there was nothing he could do about it. Like I said earlier, I don't have a problem with Brian blocking, but don't do that to a car going much faster than you are. And if you do, prepare to get wrecked" Thank you Bronco. A good example of sportsmanship was on the last lap of the 1983 Daytona 500. Cale Yarborough had a great run on Buddy Baker on the backstretch, his closing speed was so good on Baker. Baker did not block him, although if I was in his position I would have tried something, but he knew he could have caused a big wreck. And you're right, Bronco. Stewart chose the wrong line and realized that he did. He didn't try to block or it would have knocked about everybody out of it. Vickers put himself in harms way by doing what he did. It could have been prevented had he not tried to block a lot faster car. That's stupid and he and other paid for it. Nascar couldn't penalize Earnhardt for racing hard. How could they punish him for doing the right thing? Racing. 128. RaceFanX posted: 03.21.2012 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Matt Kenseth's last win for DeWalt tools, probably the sponsor he's still best associated with 129. Daniel posted: 05.22.2012 - 10:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) In using top 20/21 from duels: #09 Brad Keselowski, #27 Kirk Shelmerdine, #37 Tony Raines, #46 Carl Long, #51 Kelly Bires, #71 Mike Wallace, #87 Joe Nemechek Out using top 20/21 from duels: #6 David Ragan, #7 Robby Gordon, #16 Greg Biffle, #17 Matt Kenseth, #21 Bill Elliott, #34 John Andretti, #82 Scott Speed 130. Daniel posted: 05.22.2012 - 10:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 43rd starting spot based on qualifying speed: #39 Ryan Newman 131. CBASS posted: 02.02.2013 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #12 Penske #41 All Sport Body Quencher #75 Blu Frog #08 Scotts Bonus S Max #8 Guitar Hero: World Tour #42 Target/ Polaroid #51 FAB Grills 132. LASTCAR posted: 04.23.2013 - 12:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joey Logano picked up his 1st career last-place finish in Sunday's 51st Annual Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway after his #20 Home Depot Toyota was involved in a single-car accident on lap 79 of the rain-shortened 152-lap race. Logano had a difficult SpeedWeeks coming into the 500. He crashed out of the Budweiser Shootout the previous week and struggled with his car's handling in practice. Despite this, Logano ran very well in Gatorade Duel Race 1 on Thursday, finishing 4th. The run gave him the 9th starting spot for the Daytona 500, but he struggled near the back of the pack as the race progressed. Hovering around 27th on lap 79, Logano entered the tri-oval behind fellow rookie Scott Speed. When Speed got loose, Logano turned left and crossed the nose of Greg Biffle on his inside. The contact sent Logano's Toyota head-on into the inside wall just before the entrance of pit road. His car then slid back into the infield grass and came to a stop, bringing out the fourth caution of the race. Logano was uninjured. With the finish, Logano became the first driver ever to finish last in both the Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500 in the same year. It was the first time the #20 had finished last in the Daytona 500 since 2007 and the first time the #20 had finished last at all since last year's UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas. Both those finishes came with the car's previous driver, Tony Stewart. 2009 RANKINGS 1st) Joey Logano (1) Visit http://brockbeard.blogspot.com/ for more. 133. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 04.24.2014 - 11:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrew 60 James Hylton Dodge Lowery Plumbing John Carter/Mark Simo 134. Gordon7timeWinstonCupchamp posted: 02.06.2016 - 7:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (5) this is the event where nascar introduced 'Digger and Friends'. it was a stupid propaganda designed to indoctrinate kids into following nascar. 135. chevyfan98 posted: 12.11.2016 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Probably the only time the FOX booth blamed Dale Jr. for a wreck that for the most part wasn't his fault. Usually its the other way around. 136. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 06.03.2018 - 1:30 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) First Daytona 500 starts for A. J. Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola, Scott Speed, and Joey Logano. Last Daytona 500 starts for Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield. 137. Sandy posted: 12.29.2018 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl long's Last cup attempt as a driver before taking a 8 year abense from the cup series because of a $200,000 fine from the all star race later that year that had him banned 138. Anonymous posted: 03.18.2019 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crew chief update: #27 Kirk Shelmerdine - Phil Harris 139. Tide1732 posted: 12.25.2019 - 4:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kirk Shelmerdine final cup attempt 140. Mile501 posted: 01.21.2020 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The top 7 finishers in this race all started 20th or worse. Does anyone know if this is the only time that has ever happened? 141. Foote posted: 06.08.2020 - 6:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Why did Office Depot leave Carl Edwards after his incredible 2008 season and take a chance with Stewart and his new team? Great move in hindsight, but wondering what their motivation was. 142. BAV posted: 06.08.2020 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tony Stewart was also a big brand, and it's possible they got outbid on sponsorship 143. Anonymous posted: 09.23.2020 - 7:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Crew chief update: #46 Carl Long - Alex Astor Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20100227095322/http://www.carl-long.com/ 144. Rich posted: 11.20.2020 - 9:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum and Krista Voda were the pit road reporters. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond were in the Hollywood hotel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: