For much of the race Tony Stewart seemed to have the
car to beat, leading 97 of the 200 laps.
But Stewart’s hopes for winning would fade at the end
as Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s Chevy would lead a total of 59
laps, including lap 200 -- the last one!
Tony Stewart was leading on lap 181 when Earnhardt Jr
made his final pass of the race.
Earnhardt Jr crossed the finish line first with
Stewart hanging on in the draft. The margin of victory
was .273 seconds.
“It's nice to see him get his victory here, too,"
said Stewart "I think his father's really proud today.
You know, I'd love to have won the race, trust me. I did
everything I could to still win the race. If I could
have held him off, had him finish second, I would have
done in it a heartbeat. But there was no holding that
kid back today. Today was his day."
Dale Jr’s share of the purse for winning the race was
$1,495,070.
The official time of the race was 3 hours, 11
minutes, 53 seconds, at an average speed of 156.345 MPH.
There were 4 caution periods for a total of 23 laps.
Climbing from the car on the front stretch after the
race Dale Jr saluted the fans with a clinched fist and a
broad smile before making his way to Victory Lane.
This win was special for car owner Teresa Earnhardt
as well. She made a rare Victory Lane appearance to
congratulate Dale Jr.
President George W. Bush was on hand for the start of
the race. Although he exited Daytona on board Air Force
1 about halfway through the race. He certainly missed an
exciting finish. He did call Earnhardt later to
congratulate the winning driver.
Take it easy
“It was the most exciting race of my life,” Junior
said to President Bush. “Thank you very much. Take it
easy.”
Earnhardt Jr and his father, Dale Earnhardt, joined
Richard and Lee Petty, along with Davey and Bobby
Allison, to become the third father-son combination to
win the Daytona 500.
The win came in the wake of the team losing some key
personnel. Team executive Ty Norris left DEI just before
the Earnhardt left for Daytona. Norris also served as
Junior’s spotter on race day.
Former driver Stevie Reeves replaced Norris as
spotter. Earnhardt had to remind Reeves several times
during the race to provide more information and updates.
Dale Jr was able to avoid The Big One: a lap
72 crash that claimed 12 cars, including teammate
Michael Waltrip.
Waltrip’s car landed upside down on the backstretch
grass, and he was trapped in the car for about 10
minutes, unable to get out.
"I'd already flipped 10 times or five times or two
times, I don't know how many times," said Waltrip, "All
they had to do was flip it back over and I could get
out. They were cutting bars. The whole car was on top of
me. I don't know what bar they thought they were going
to cut that would have alleviated the hole I was in."
"I couldn't see where they were doing a whole lot of
good to get me out," Waltrip said "I was trying my best
to explain to them what needed to happen. And what did
they eventually do? They flipped it over and I got out.
I hope that was a lesson learned."
Black helicopters and conspiracy theories
While Junior had actually qualified third for the
race, NASCAR moved him up to the pole position for the
start of the race. Playing favorites? Not exactly.
Pole-sitter Greg Biffle had to change engines prior
to the start of the race, and according to the NASCAR
rulebook he was forced to start at the rear of the field
because of it.