By David Mirsky

McMurray wins but Danika prettier in her big bow

DAYTONA  (Hollywood Today) 2/16/10 — NASCAR’S 2010 season opened this Sunday with the super race from the super speedway, The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race of the year.  The unusually cold weather and rain didn’t stop the more than 100,000 fans from attending Florida’s biggest spectacle since the Super Bowl.

For the few who have never seen this track, you should know that this tri-oval is what all other super speedway’s aspire to be.  Once you’re there, there’s no reason to leave…this track has it all…restaurants, shops, entertainment, and dozens of displays created by the people of NASCAR and their sponsors.  The grandstands and luxury suites can contain more than 100,000 fans, watching their favorite drivers averaging more that 175 mph a lap, which includes 39 degree bankings.  If that doesn’t seem like a lot, picture yourself trying to run up the side of a house…well, just about.

Sunday’s race started off with its usual amazing pagentry…after all, Daytona is the birthplace and home of NASCAR racing and this is the first day of the 2010 season.  Veteran Mark Martin held the pole position, and took Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, and the rest of the field into the first turn for the first of 208 laps of this 500 mile race.  The first 100 laps had nearly 20 lead changes that included 3 yellow flags.  It was Kevin Harvick, Elliot Sadler, and A.J. Allmendinger vieing for the lead mostly, and it seemed like typical race.  Jeff Gordon made his way to the head of the pack while his team mate, and last year’s Sprint Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson’s luck began going the wrong.  Johnson was forced to pit and make extensive repairs to his car, seeming to put him out of any real contention.

On lap 122, NASCAR officials brought out the red flag, stopping the race, and sending the cars to pit row for repairs to the track.  Apparently, the recent heavy rains in the area were too much for the drainage system on the track, creating several pot holes in the middle of the track, directly on the race track’s groove where it would cause damage to the Goodyear tires, and cause accidents…not good at over 175 miles per hour.  The repair crew worked frantically, causing the race to be delayed for more than an hour and forty minutes.  Less than 40 laps later, NASCAR once again red flagged the race for yet another pot hole repair.  This repair took only 45 minutes before restarting the race.  With this latest restart, Scott Speed , who didn’t pit on the last yellow flag, took the race lead until lap 184, when  Biffle passes the field.

For the next 20 laps, Bowyer, Biffle, Kurt Busch, Truex and Kevin Harvick make up the lead pack, and the fans are expecting a great finish to this race.  On lap 194, Elliott Sadler’s car gets sideways and causes another yellow flag.  Jimmie Johnson had finally retired with rear end problems.  Two more yellow flags, one involving Kasey Kahne caused yet another change in the top five running order.  This time around, with 3 laps to go, Kevin Harvick led the field across the start line, with McMurray,Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle in tow.

It was an exciting last two laps of the race with Edwards slowing and Biffle, behind McMurray, pushing McMurray past Havick.  Coming out of the last turn, McMurray was clearly in the lead, but no one would have thought Dale Jr., in 10^th place, to race past the field, into a second place finish, less than a second behind McMurray.  Finally, after more than 6 hours, the first race of the season was finally over with Jamie McMurray’s Chevrolet winning the race and more than $1,500,000.00 for his effort.  Dale Jr. took 2^nd place with Greg Biffle rounding out the top three spots.

Also making news in NASCAR this week was Danica Patrick’s very first NASCAR drive.  She started the Nationwide Series race on Saturday, and performed better than expected for most of the race until she became involved in a non-injury accident that ended her day.  The TV network reported that it had a 60% increase in viewership during Danica’s race.  Danica will continue racing in the NASCAR series while continuing with her Indy car racing.  In the Camping World Truck Series, former Formula 1 driver, Nelson Piqeut Jr., son of Formula 1 World Champion, Nelson Piquet Sr. made his NASCAR debut. You may recall Piquet’s involvement in a staged crash in the 2008 Formula 1 season, which cost him his ride at Renault and his credibility in that series.

Next week’s NASCAR race will come from Fontana California.