Daytona 500 - Solid Finishes and Rain-Outs

First of all, congrats to Matt Kenseth for a 1st place finish in the 51st running of the Daytona 500! Though the race was washed out at lap 152 (the total race is 200 laps long), it was full of excitement and a win for a good team. Kevin Harvick could possibly have pulled off a second Daytona win for his career, but finished well in 2nd and has a promising season ahead of him. (No, I wouldn't be singing the same tune if it was Tony in Harvick's place, but blogger's prerogative - I can be biased!!!) However, as Harvick pointed out...

"But, you know, it's also kind of bittersweet, I guess you could say, for the fact that Matt is the one that pushed me to my Daytona 500 win [in 2007]. In the end, it's kind of weird how that stuff works out."

My boy, Tony Stewart, represented himself well, finishing 8th after starting 5th. Ryan Newman, Stewart's teammate in the Stewart Haas garage, finished and started 36th. I will end that discussion by stating that Newman has lots of room to move up during this season, and I am sure he will.

It was exciting to see Tony run his first race as an owner/driver. He did a great job - led a lap, finished in the top 10, and proved that he has lost nothing when gaining his new responsibilities. I'm really excited to see how this season shapes up!!!

As an aside - Junior had a tough race, and did not put forth a very good front about the whole thing. There was an interesting article at Nascar.com that really captured a lot of what I think this guy must be going through. He's a good man, and a good driver - but as I've always said, he isn't his father. And maybe that mantle is finally starting to weigh him down.