Kenseth wins a wild Daytona 500
Wisconsin Sports-- NASCAR’s signature race did not end until early this morning. But when the smoke cleared, it was Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth who emerged as the Daytona-500 champion for the second time in four years.
DAYTONA, Fla. - NASCAR’s signature race did not end until early this morning. But when the smoke cleared, it was Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth who emerged as the Daytona-500 champion for the second time in four years.
Paul Menard of Eau Claire finished sixth, while Beloit-born Danica Patrick struggled to a 38th-place showing in her first race in NASCAR’s top circuit. Kenseth, of Cambridge, had overheating issues. And then he avoided two major crashes before holding off Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Junior in a green-white-checkered overtime finish. It took over 36 hours to complete the first Sprint Cup race of 2012. Daytona had its first 500 rainout in history on Sunday. And then last night, the race was held up for two hours following an explosive crash under caution with 40 laps to go.
Juan Pablo Montoya was trying to rejoin the field when he lost control, and slammed into a jet-drying vehicle out of the backstretch. The vehicle had jet fuel, and it burst into flames. No one was hurt, but NASCAR halted the race for an extensive clean-up of the track. In the closing laps, there were two multi-car crashes – and the last one set up the two-lap overtime finish that Kenseth won. He pulled away from Biffle and Earnhardt come out of the final turn, and he won by two-tenths of a second.
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