Kenseth takes first Daytona 500 win

Kenseth overtook Elliott Sadler entering turn one to lead the race for the first time all night on lap 146, right before Aric Almirola made contact with Kasey Kahne on the backstretch, bringing out the caution flag for the eighth time during the day.

While running behind the pacecar, a slight drizzle that had kept teams with an eye on strategy and the weather radar, transformed into a heavy downpour that ended up washing out any chance for Kenseth's rivals.

Following 20 minutes of waiting under the red flag, the 2003 Sprint Cup champion was declared the winner. Given that the race was past its halfway-mark and with the radar not showing any hope of the rain stopping, NASCAR decided to make the result official after 380 of the scheduled 500 miles.

Kesenth received the news as he waited inside his car and even broke into tears when told he had just taken his and Jack Roush's maiden victory in the Great American Race after starting from the back of the field, following a crash that forced him to his back up car during the first Gatorade Duel.

"It's going to be really wet here because I'm crying like a baby," said Kenseth. "But I've just got to thank my team and thank the Lord for giving me this opportunity first of all.

"I've had a lot of great opportunities in my life - from my family getting me in racing. Man I don't know, winning the Daytona 500 is definitely a dream moment."

The 36-year-old broke a 36-race win drought that dated back to the season finale at Homestead in 2007. He didn't win a single race last season despite making the Chase, but will now lead the championship heading into Fontana next week, having made a pass that he never thought was going to win him the race.

"I was a little nervous," Kenseth said about passing Elliott Sadler for the lead. "Because it was Elliott (Sadler) and Reed (Sorenson) and (AJ) Allmendinger and all the (Richard Petty Motorsport) teammates lined up there and I was able to get on the outside of Elliott a little bit, and our car was honestly a fair amount quicker than his and I was able to get the run and get by him."

A few laps before Kenseth's lucky break came, he survived the 'Big One' of the day, ignited by a controversial incident between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brian Vickers on the backstretch. Kenseth was able to go through the carnage without any damage, while ten other cars were part of the wreck.

Among those involved were most of the fastest cars of the day and some of the big names, including Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch. The Joe Gibbs driver had been particularly strong up until then leading 88 laps, but had dropped down in the order in the last round of pitstops as teams opted for different tyre strategies.

"I think we were the best car out there," said Busch. "Us, the 24 (Jeff Gordon) was strong, the 11 (Denny Hamlin) was strong, a couple other guys that we were battling with, but felt like our car was the best to beat.

"We were awfully good and just running out front and biding our time. I don't think we fell worse than sixth or fifth the whole time out there. Just a really sad feeling."

While Busch at least looked competitive as well as Edwards at some point, defending champion Johnson had a troubled day, never getting the right balance on his car and running for most of the distance in the middle of the pack.

But while some of the big names faded, the underdogs were able to have a shot at NASCAR's biggest race. Kevin Harvick, who drove his Budweiser Shootout car from the back of the field, was able to finish second, while AJ Allmendinger was an impressive third on his maiden Daytona 500.

Clint Bowyer was fourth in his first race with Richard Childress Racing's fourth team, while Sadler rounded up the top five, lamenting that the final caution flag of the race came probably one lap too late for him.

The Richard Petty Motorsports driver led 24 laps after coming out of the pits in the lead when most of the field pitted under the fifth caution of the day.

"On one hand, I'm very happy and on the other, I'm really disappointed," Sadler said. "We got a top-five finish for Dodge and Richard Petty Motorsports and that's a great (Daytona) 500 finish for us.

"On the other hand, I was one lap from winning the Daytona 500 and that's hard to swallow. With the off-season that I've had, I feel like I deserved that win more than anyone. I really wanted to go to Victory Lane. I just needed to hang on for one more lap to win the 500."

Three of Petty's cars actually finished in the top ten, as Reed Sorenson was ninth right behind Tony Stewart, who was able to come back from the adversity of his practice crash with teammate Ryan Newman, actually leading the race for 15 laps.

Gatorade Duel winner Jeff Gordon had been strong in the first part of the race but his chances of victory faded as he struggled with excessive tyre wear and got shuffled down in the order by being out of sequence by the time the race was halted.

For the rookies it was a tough day as both made contact on lap 82 at the exit of turn four when Scott Speed got loose, getting hit by Joey Logano, who also made contact with Greg Biffle.

Logano spun and crashed against the inside SAFER barrier at high speed, finishing his race on the spot, while Speed was able to carry on to finish a 35th place.

This year's Daytona 500 was only the third ever shortened season-opener, the most recent dating back to 2003 when Michael Waltrip was declared the winner after 109 of the 200 scheduled laps.

Pos  Driver             Car        Laps
 1.  Matt Kenseth       Ford       152
 2.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  152
 3.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge      152
 4.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  152
 5.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge      152
 6.  David Ragan        Ford       152
 7.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota     152
 8.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet  152
 9.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge      152
10.  Kurt Busch         Dodge      152
11.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet  152
12.  David Reutimann    Toyota     152
13.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet  152
14.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet  152
15.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet  152
16.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet  152
17.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota     152
18.  Carl Edwards       Ford       152
19.  John Andretti      Chevrolet  152
20.  Greg Biffle        Ford       152
21.  Regan Smith        Chevrolet  152
22.  Bobby Labonte      Ford       152
23.  Bill Elliott       Ford       152
24.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge      152
25.  Terry Labonte      Toyota     152
26.  Scott Riggs        Toyota     152
27.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota     152
28.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  152
29.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  152
30.  Aric Almirola      Chevrolet  152
31.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet  152
32.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge      152
33.  David Stremme      Dodge      152
34.  Robby Gordon       Toyota     152
35.  Scott Speed        Toyota     152
36.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet  150
37.  Paul Menard        Ford       139
38.  Jamie McMurray     Ford       139
39.  Brian Vickers      Toyota     134
40.  Jeremy Mayfield    Toyota     126
41.  Kyle Busch         Toyota     124
42.  Travis Kvapil      Ford       90
43.  Joey Logano        Toyota     81