Daytona Beach, Florida. Today was the beginning of a new era in NASCAR with the Generation Six cars. Going into the race, the story was on Kevin Harvick. Kevin had won everything, that is until it came to the big one! There were plenty of headlines going into the race, not to mention the excitement surrounding Danica Patrick. Danica had won the Daytona pole one week ago Sunday. This was a monumental occasion, because she was the first female to win the pole for a Cup race! Then there was Tony Stewart, who was 0 for 14 going into the 500 and has never won. Matt Kenseth was the defending champion, who won it one year ago on a Monday night.
Race day was a day filled with heavy hearts, due to a Nationwide crash the day before that sent 14 people to the Halifax Health hospital. Conditions of the victims were not available at press time. We can, however, tell you that 5 people were released from Halifax Health this afternoon. This day was filled with crashes, which is what you have when it comes to Talladega and Daytona, and with no assistance from the restrictor plates. It also did not help that the drivers drove in packs (which means they were in close quarters with each other). This day belonged to Mr. 5-time Champion, Jimmy Johnson. Johnson seemed to have speed all day. Your defending Champion B.K. finished fourth, even though his car looked like it had been in a war! There was a lot of damage. Everyone was chasing Jimmy Johnson, which was a bad sign because we all know what he is capable of!
