2010 Daytona 500

2010 Daytona 500

Race details[1]
Race 1 of 36 in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date	February 14, 2010 (2010-02-14)
Location	Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4 km)
Distance	200 laps, 520 mi (840 km)
Avg Speed	137.284 miles per hour (220.937 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Mark Martin	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	47.074
Qualifying Race Winners
Duel 1 Winner	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports
Duel 2 Winner	Kasey Kahne	Richard Petty Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	41
Winner
1	Jamie McMurray	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
Television
Network	Fox Broadcasting Company
Announcers	Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds
Ratings	7.7/16

The 2010 Daytona 500 was the 52nd running of "The Great American Race", and it kicked off the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on February 14 at the 2.5 mile (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Fox telecast the race while radio coverage was handled by Sirius XM Radio via satellite radio and over-the-air on MRN Radio in the USA. One change in this year's schedule found pole qualifying being held one day earlier, on February 6 because Super Bowl XLIV was held the following day.

The race started at 1 PM to comply with the new 1 / 3 / 7:30 rule for race starts during the new season.^[2] However, due to two long delays because of potholes in Turns 1 and 2, the race finished in prime time under the lights on the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) track, the winner being Jamie McMurray in the #1 Bass Pro Shops Impala.

There were no NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies in the race for the first time since the Raybestos Rookie of the Year program started, as Terry Cook, the only rookie candidate approved to run at Daytona, failed to qualify. The other rookie entering 2010, Kevin Conway, was not eligible due to the lack of superspeedway experience. Instead, Travis Kvapil took over that ride. Three veteran drivers – Max Papis (second year), Michael McDowell (third year), and Brad Keselowski (second year)  – were the only Daytona 500 rookies, all of whom had raced in a previous Coke Zero 400.

Potential testing

While NASCAR's testing ban is set to continue for the 2010 season, Goodyear held a tire test November 2, 2009, to consider tires, and allowed all teams to test.

In light of the 2009 AMP Energy 500, where two cars were involved in violent crashes (with Ryan Newman's blowover on lap 184 and Mark Martin's flip on lap 190), NASCAR officials said November 23, 2009, during the joint Nationwide/Camping World Truck banquet in Miami they are contemplating a test at Daytona prior to the teams arriving in February 2010 in order to test potential changes to prevent a recurrence of the incidents at Talladega in November 2009.^[3]

Race summary

Polesitter Mark Martin in 2007.

The green flag waved at 1:19 pm Eastern time. The first caution came on the eighth lap with a six-car crash which included Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish, Jr., Regan Smith, and Boris Said That was the largest crash of the day, as The Big One did not happen, a rarity in recent restrictor plate races. On lap 44, nearly all of the drivers went into the pits. The second caution was on lap 63 when Joe Nemechek spun out. Mike Bliss also spun out on lap 79, bringing out a third caution.

On lap 122, the race was red-flagged for track repair as a result of a pothole that developed in the track surface in turn 2, which lasted for 1 hour and 42 minutes.^[4] It was speculated that the recent heavy rain and cold weather in central Florida was responsible for the track damage, as well as the fact the track has not been resurfaced since 1978.^[5] The fifth caution of the race came on lap 144, when A. J. Allmendinger spun out. A second red flag was brought out on lap 161 for further track repairs in turn 2 lasting another 45 minutes. On lap 185 Jimmie Johnson lost a rear axle ^[6]

Race winner Jamie McMurray in 2007.

On lap 194, another caution came out when Elliott Sadler got loose and collected Ryan Newman and Travis Kvapil. On lap 198, Bill Elliott, Joey Logano, and Boris Said crashed, resulting in the first green-white-checker finish attempt. On lap 203, Kasey Kahne and Robert Richardson collided on the back stretch bringing out another caution.^[7] Jamie McMurray won the race on the second green-white-checker attempt with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in second. Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip and Scott Speed were crash in the last corner on the final lap, but NASCAR allowed the race to finish under green. There were 52 lead changes,^[8] which made the race one of the most competitive Daytona 500 races in history. The race also served – in terms of both time and distance – as the longest race in Daytona history with the finish under the lights (over six hours including the two red flag stoppages for pothole repairs) and 520 miles (840 km) because of new green-white-checker finish rules that took effect with this race. The ratings also took a huge hit (due to the delays), as it was only drew 7.7/16 on the Nielson Ratings, the lowest ratings since 1991^[9] (affected by the first of a series of pit road rule changes caused by a pit road crash which killed Mike Ritch, a tire changer from the Melling Racing team at the 1990 Atlanta Journal 500 in Atlanta Motor Speedway, when Ricky Rudd slid down and pinned him when he was about to change tires for their driver) and the fourth lowest since the first flag-to-flag coverage in 1979. The ratings for the race, by rule, were calculated as if there were rain delays, although Fox stayed on-air with driver interviews throughout the entire delay.

Qualifying and final results

* – NASCAR rules state that if a driver, car, engine, or transmission change is made by the team, that car starts the race in the back of the field. For the Daytona 500, the rule applies to a car if a crash took place in the Gatorade Duel or in the Friday or Saturday practice. An engine or transmission change was permitted after the Gatorade Duel, so the engine and transmission used in Friday practice had to be used in Saturday practice and the race. The penalty for an engine or transmission change applies only if a second engine change was made after the Gatorade Duel once Friday practice begins.

See also

• List of Daytona 500 pole position winners
• 2010 Gatorade Duels

References

External links

• 2010 Daytona 500 race page
• How the Daytona 500 starting lineup is set
• Daytona 500 entry list
• Unofficial Daytona 500 results
• Daytona 500 race story