Kenseth, blessed of heaven...

The onset of rain 50 laps from the checkered flag brought a premature end to the Daytona 500, thus offering the first victory of the season, but also his first on this legendary oval, to Matt Kenseth.

Published on 17/03/2009 à 11:34

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We can say that luck smiled on Matt Kenseth this weekend. Indeed, the Ford driver overtook Elliot Sadler a few seconds before a final yellow flag caused by a collision between Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne, while the rain began to fall. The race management quickly made the decision to bring out the red flag, Kenseth was therefore declared the winner.

The Ford driver is off to a fantastic start to the year, after a 2008 season without the slightest victory, by winning the most prestigious event in the discipline. This is Roush Fenway Racing's first success in this race.

Kevin Harvick, winner of the last edition, finished just behind, despite the fact that he started from last position following an engine change, while AJ Allmendinger inherited the last step of the podium. The latter signs a very good performance here, while he is still not sure of being able to compete the whole season, due to lack of sponsors.

Followed by Clint Bowyer, Elliott Sadler, David Ragan, Michael Waltrip and Tony Stewart, who therefore made a good debut with his own team. Jeff Gordon finished 13th, ahead of Juan-Pablo Montoya, while Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson were relegated to the back of the pack, in 28th and 31st places, following the pile-up on lap 123.

Indeed, the race was marked by a “Big One”, a pile-up caused by the fight between Earnhardt Jr and Vickers, which ended in a loss of control and involved around ten cars in the end, including Kyle Busch, forced to crash. ?abandoned even though he was very fast at the start of the race and considered the favorite.

On the 81st lap, another big accident interrupted the race, that of the "rookie" Joey Logano, who suffered the costs of a driving error by Scott Speed, and caused another neutralization. Speed goes into oversteer at the exit of turn 4 and takes his foot off the accelerator, Logano then shifts to the left, but Greg Biffle cannot avoid him and sends him towards the inside wall, which he hits full force. The Joe Gibbs Racing car was destroyed by the violence of the impact, but the driver fortunately emerged unscathed.

Next race scheduled for next weekend at Fontana, at the popular Auto Club Speedway.