Brett Winningham - Results from #840

After a six-plus hour rain delay today at the Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR was finally able to get the race back going. Once the race started back up, it was all Dale Earnhardt Jr. chasing his second Daytona 500 victory. Tonight, Earnhardt Jr. scored his 20th win of his career and ending a winless drought since 2012. He joins a list of five drivers to have only scored two Daytona 500 wins in their racing career, with his last win in the event back in 2004. He heads into the Phoenix International Raceway with a five point lead.

“Yeah, I think so. Man, winning this race is the greatest feeling that you can feel in the sport, aside from obviously accepting the trophy for the championship. I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to feel that again and it feels just as good, if not better than the first because of how hard we tried year after year after year funning second all those years and wondering why and what we needed to do. I’ve got to get my head together," said Dale Earnhardt Jr. "This race car was awesome. We showed them there night long how good a car we had and it’s because of these guys right here putting it together in the shop. We could fight off battles after battles. We got a little help from Jeff (Gordon) to get away on that restart and tried to take care of it from there. This is amazing. I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll never take this for granted because this just doesn’t happen twice, let alone once. I’m so thankful."

Denny Hamlin fell just short of dominating all of Speedweeks this weekend. Hamlin came into tonight's race looking to be the first ever driver to have won the Sprint Unlimited, Duel and the Daytona 500 all in the same year. On the final lap, Hamlin lost the draft entering turn-three and didn't have help to push him to the front. Despite this, Hamlin had to settle for second and heads into one of his best tracks next weekend.

"“Well, it was intense for me.  I had no spotter.  Our radios weren’t working after we went back green after the rain so just had to wing it on my own really for the most part after we went back.  If I cut anyone off I’m sorry, just trying to do it out there on my own,” said Hamlin. “It was intense.  Everyone was content not to run the top line, which was good.  I thought for sure we’d wreck more cars, but still that was a great race for the fans.  It was a great race from my standpoint.  It was just so hard to pass -- similar to when we got out front.  You can block your way to a victory, and really Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) just played it perfectly once he got out front on that last fuel run -- everyone else is just side by side and you really can’t make any moves.”

Brad Keselowski came home third in the 56th annual Daytona 500 after being in the lead four different times tonight. When the field was frozen, with the caution off turn four coming to the finish, Keselowski just edged out in-front of Jeff Gordon for the position. He earned his third top-10 finish after 10 starts at Daytona and led a total of 13 laps this evening.

“We had a really fast Miller Lite Ford and just came up a little short there at the end. We had a good restart but didn’t get any help from behind. I was really proud of my car and team to be able to hold fourth with no help. Dale and his teammates were really fast and they did a good job executing at the end. Congratulations to him,” said Keselowski. “If I had maybe one or two cars behind me I think I could have maybe had a shot but I just didn’t get it.”

The next race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be next weekend at the Phoenix International Raceway. You can catch The Profit on CNBC 500 live on FOX at 2:00 p.m. Et. Not near a TV? The Motor Racing Network will provide the live radio broadcast of the event.

Kyle Busch captured the win this evening in the 15th annual Nextra Energy Resources 250 at the Daytona International Speedway for his 36th win in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Busch's impressive NASCAR win total now sits at 126 and will probably only get bigger as the races continue during Speedweeks. Busch also claimed a big defeat by becoming the first driver to score a win at Daytona in the ARCA Racing Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Since 2007, Toyota has scored their eighth consecutive victory in the series at the Daytona International Speedway.

Coming home in the second spot was Timothy Peters after driving a hard fought race in the No. 17 for Red Horse Racing. He led the third most laps of any driver this evening of 20. He finished second by just 0.017 seconds and nearly held off Busch just enough to win the race. Peters will take this momentum into Martinsville next month where he has had numerous success in the past.

The 2013 winner of the Nextra Energy Resources 250, Johnny Sauter, drove his No. 98 Toyota to a third place finish. Sauter was up-front nearly the whole race but could never get out front to lead a lap. In six total starts at the 2.5-mile oval, Sauter scored his second top-10 finish this evening.

The next race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be at the Martinsville Speedway on March 29th. You can catch the race live on FOX Sports 1 at 2:30 p.m. Et. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio broadcast of the event.

See below for the full-race results:

 Via: ESPN

Weather forced NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying to be canceled this afternoon at the Daytona International Speedway. For all three races this weekend, all rookie drivers will earn the pole for the events. The line up was set via practice speeds combined in the three sessions held this weekend.

Ben Kennedy will start on the pole tonight in the season opening NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Kennedy, like Kwasniewski in the Nationwide Series, will be making his debut this evening behind the wheel of a Turner-Scott Motorsports truck.

Starting on the outside of Kennedy, will be the series veteran of Ron Hornday. Tonight at the Daytona International Speedway, he will be behind the wheel of the No. 30 truck, also owned by Turner-Scott Motorsports.

Ryan Blaney will start the race in the third spot breaking the Turner-Scott Motorsports sweep for the top-three spots. Blaney goes into tonight's Nextra Energy Resources 250 looking to score his third career win in the series. He also goes into the race this evening with momentum left over from 2013 after a second place finish at Homestead.

Todd Peck will be the only driver who will fail to qualify. Charles Lewandoski withdrew from the race before the scheduled qualifying session.

1 31 Ben Kennedy # Florida Lottery/Whelen Chevrolet Row 1: 2013 Owner Points 11th 2 30 Ron Hornaday Jr. Rheem Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 8th 3 29 Ryan Blaney CooperStandard/CareersForVeterans.org Ford Row 2: 2013 Owner Points 2nd 4 88 Matt Crafton Fisher Nuts/Menards Toyota 2013 Owner Points 3rd 5 21 Joey Coulter Allegiant Travel Chevrolet Row 3: 2013 Owner Points 31st 6 5 * John Wes Townley Zaxby's Toyota 2013 Owner Points 1st 7 51 Kyle Busch(i) ToyotaCare Toyota Row 4: 2013 Owner Points 34th 8 92 * Ross Chastain BTS Tire & Wheel Ford 2013 Owner Points 6th 9 98 Johnny Sauter Nextant Aerospace/Curb Records Toyota Row 5: 2013 Owner Points 4th 10 19 Tyler Reddick # Reese Towpower Ford 2013 Owner Points 29th 11 13 * Jeb Burton VAMP/Vapor Brands International Inc. Toyota Row 6: 2013 Owner Points 19th 12 39 Ryan Sieg RSS Racing Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 18th 13 8 Joe Nemechek(i) pelletgrillusa.com/SWM Toyota Row 7: 2013 Owner Points 7th 14 32 Ryan Truex(i) Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 2013 Owner Attempts  15 58 * Parker Kligerman(i) BRG Motorsports Toyota Row 8: 2013 Owner Points 10th 16 54 Darrell Wallace Jr. ToyotaCare Toyota 2013 Owner Attempts 6 17 02 * Tyler Young Randco/Young's Building Systems Chevrolet Row 9: 2013 Owner Points 12th 18 17 Timothy Peters Valvoline Toyota 2013 Owner Points 13th 19 20 John King GunBroker.com Chevrolet Row 10: 2013 Owner Attempts  20 82 * Sean Corr Radon.com/Nesco Ford 2013 Owner Points 14th 21 7 Brian Ickler Bullet Liners Toyota Row 11: 2013 Owner Points 17th 22 35 Mason Mingus # MadVapes/811 Call Before You Dig Toyota 2013 Owner Points 16th 23 77 German Quiroga OtterBox Toyota Row 12: 2013 Owner Points 28th 24 74 Chris Cockrum Accu-Tech Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 23rd 25 99 Bryan Silas Bell Trucks America Inc Chevrolet Row 13: 2013 Owner Points 21st 26 24 Brennan Newberry GunBroker.coml Chevrolet 2013 Owner Attempts  27 84 * Chris Fontaine Glenden Enterprises/JPL Auto Toyota Row 14: Series Champion 2003 28 50 * Travis Kvapil MAKE Motorsports Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 37th 29 75 * Caleb Holman Food Country USA Chevrolet Row 15: 2013 Owner Points 20th 30 08 Jimmy Weller III GenevaLibertySteel/EnginePartsPlus Chev 2013 Owner Points 32nd 31 93 * Jason White(i) RSS Racing Chevrolet Row 16: 2013 Owner Points 35th 32 63 * Justin Jennings Mittler Bros. Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 25th 33 07 Michael Disdier Lafayette Racing Chevrolet Row 17: 2013 Owner Attempts  34 28 * Ryan Ellis(i) FDNY Racing Chevrolet 2013 Owner Points 33rd 35 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb ArlingtonAnniversary/GrimesConst. Chevrolet Row 18: 2013 Owner Points 24th 36 57 Norm Benning EldoraSpeedway/Watt'sTruckCntrs Chevrolet Did Not Qualify: #40  Todd Peck. 

Weather had a say today at the Daytona International Speedway of who won the pole for tomorrow's DRIVE4COPD 300. After the first round completed, qualifying then was cancelled and times stood from the first round.

Dylan Kwasniewski will win the pole for the event after being pushed by teammates Kyle Larson and Danica Patrick in the draft. Kwasniewski posted a fast time of 46.856 seconds, 192.078 mph. Tomorrow's race will be his first ever start in the series. For Kwasniewski's first two ARCA Racing Series starts, including last weekends race at Daytona, he went on to score the pole.

Starting on his outside will be teammate Kyle Larson after running in that Turner-Scott Motorsports draft with a 46.857 second lap time. The time averaged out to 192.074 mph. lap time. Larson lost the pole to Kwasniewski by just 0.001 seconds.

In the third starting position will be Danica Patrick in the No. 30 Chevrolet this weekend. Patrick was at the tail-end of the three car draft and ended up posting a lap of 46.867 seconds, 192.033 mph. Patrick missed the pole by just 0.011 seconds.

Nine drivers will go home after not posting a fast enough speed. Those drivers include: David Ragan, Tanner Berryhill, Chris Buescher, Willie Allen, Matt Carter, Matt DiBenedetto, Carl Long, Carlos Contreras and Clay Greenfield.

Tonight NASCAR ran two 150 mile races this evening to set the starting line up for Sunday's 56th annual Daytona 500. The first duel was ran clean and green with most of the action coming in the second race.

Matt Kenseth drove to the victory this evening with a spectacular three wide finish at the line. Kenseth led the most laps of any driver and certainly had one of the best cars of the evening. He won the race by 0.022 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick.

Later on during post-race technical inspection, NASCAR deemed the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick illegal from a split in the track bar that exceeded the maximum allowance. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are allowed no more than a three inch split and the No. 4 exceeded that limit. No penalties will be given.

The second duel was clean and green until the exit of turn four coming to the checkers. Jimmie Johnson ran out of fuel, which caught Jamie McMurray off guard and started a wreck involving numerous cars. It sent Clint Bowyer into the air but was able to drive his car to pit road. Denny Hamlin was able to score his second Speedweeks victory this weekend.

Drivers who will miss the field for the 56th annual Daytona 500 are: Eric McClure, Ryan Truex, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd and Michael McDowell.

See below for full starting line up:

 Via: ESPN.com

Brian Vickers will be the only driver who will need to go to a back-up car from the first incident. Cole Whitt was going to a back-up, but when his teammate Parker Kligerman got into the second incident, team decided to repair the primary No. 26.

The second crash involved five cars that started just past the start/finish line. The incident started between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano. Kenseth came up to block Logano, which sent him up the track into Parker Kligerman. Kligerman's car caught air and brushed the catch fence, ripping some of the fencing and a camera away, but no one was hurt. Ryan Truex, Dave Blaney and Paul Menard also was involved as a chain reaction.

"We were coming off four there and the 20 started making a move to go down. I assumed he was gonna go down there. I had the run, so I was gonna fill that hole and then he started to come back up and I was there," said Logano. "Maybe I shouldn’t have been racing as hard as I was there in practice, but everybody was in a big pack there trying to make things happen. As soon as he came back up I checked up a little bit and then the 21 hit me from behind and we spun out. It happens. That’s Daytona for you. We have another good Shell/Pennzoil Ford in the trailer that they backed out and are getting through tech now so we’ll get that out and make sure it’s good for the Duel and get through that and we’ll be fine."

This will force Ryan Truex, Joey Logano, Parker Kligerman, Paul Menard and Dave Blaney all to a back-up car. After the crash, Blaney told Fox Sports 1 reporters that Humphrey-Smith Racing has no back-up car this weekend.

Practice will resume later on tonight at the Daytona International Speedway, which can be seen live on FOX Sports 1 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. Et. It will be interesting to see how many racing teams will participate in the event.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series will set to roll in 2014 this weekend with the DRIVE4COPD 300 at the Daytona International Speedway. This will mark the first of 33 total stops on the schedule this season.

The entry list features 49 total drivers, meaning, nine of those will go home after qualifying. Some of the drivers include, Jason White, Jeffery Earnhardt, Chase Elliott, Carlos Contreas, Tanner Berryhill, Danica Patrick, Dylan Kwasniewski, Kyle Larson, Dakota Armstrong, Chris Buescher, Johnny Sauter, Chad Boat, Bobby Gerhart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and David Ragan.

Three drivers of Dylan Kwasnieski, Chase Elliott and Chad Boat will all make their NASCAR Nationwide Series debuts this weekend at the Daytona International Speedway. These three drivers has numerous success on many short tracks around the country but it's time to put them to the test on the high banks. Chase Elliott is probably everyone's favorite to watch coming into the opener.

The season opener has always played a favorite to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars at Daytona. That group this weekend will consist of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and Josh Wise. These drivers will certainly be the favorites this weekend to try and claim the first victory of the year.

The Sunoco Rookie of the Year battle will be strong in the NASCAR Nationwide Series once again. These drivers to watch out for are, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Ryan Reed, Dylan Kwasniewski, Dakota Armstrong and Chris Buescher. Chase Elliott and Dylan Kwasniewski will certainly be the ones to watch out for in 2014.

You can catch the season opener for the NASCAR Nationwide Series this Saturday live on ESPN at 1:00 p.m. Et. Live radio coverage of the event will be provided by the Motor Racing Network. You can listen to MRN through a local radio station, online on MRN.com, TuneIn or by dialing 1-832-999-1717 on your phone.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will take their shot this weekend on the high banks at the Daytona International Speedway for the 15th annual Nextra Energy Resources 250. This race will be the first of 22 total events scheduled this season for the series.

A total of 38 drivers are scheduled to practice and qualify this weekend, but two drivers will miss the field after qualifying on Friday afternoon. Some of the drivers racing this weekend include, John Wes Townley, Michael Disdier, Jeb Burton, Tyler Reddick, John King, Joey Coulter, Ryan Ellis, Mason Mingus, Todd Peck, Travis Kvapil, Parker Kligerman, Charles Lewandoski, Sean Corr and Jason White.

In this race last season, Johnny Sauter led the final 15 laps of the event to score the victory. Later on in 2013, Sauter went out and also snatched the victory at the Talladega Superspeedway. If Sauter can bring home the hardware on Friday evening, he will tie Todd Bodine with the most consectutive restrictor plate wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Crafton will begin his quest for a back-to-back NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship this weekend at the Daytona International Speedway. No driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has been able to do so. Crafton was the hottest driver in 2013 by scoring 16 consectutive top-10 finishes in the series.

Despite losing his full-time ride in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with Turner-Scott Motorsports, Jeb Burton will try to take his new ride with ThorSport Racing to a victory in the season opener. In 2013, Burton earned the most poles of any driver in the series. Though, he captured only one win at the Texas Motor Speedway and finished out the season with five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year battle in 2014 will heat up between three different drivers going for the title. Tyler Reddick, Ben Kennedy and Mason Mingus will battle it out through 2014 and try and get the title. The favorite probably out of all of these three drivers will be Ben Kennedy.

You can catch the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener live on FOX Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m. Et. The Motor Racing Network will carry the live radio coverage of the event. You can listen on roughly 100 radio stations around the country, TuneIn App, MRN.com or by dialing 1-832-999-1717 on your mobile phone.

Daniel Suarez takes it two-for-two tonight in the Battle at the Beach at the Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this season. Suarez led a total of a 119 of 150 laps to capture his second victory in the series this season. Suarez, from Monterrey, Mexico, became the first driver from the country to win a race at the hostoric track. He leaves Daytona with a 18 point lead over Lee Pulliam after two races in 2014.

Austin Hill scored his second career top-10 finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series this evening by coming home in the second position. Hill started the event from the second spot but could never catch the strong car of Daniel Suarez. He was 0.596 seconds behind the race winner when the checkers flown to end the race.

Brandon McReynolds scored his third top-five finish this evening by driving his No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota home to a third place finish. McReynolds was one of the cleanest drivers all evening long battling up front with Suarez at one point. He did not get a great qualifying effort that was 19th fastest, but once when the race started, McReynolds was able to chew his way to the front to capture his eighth top-10 finish.

Ben Rhodes night started off great after qualifying on his first ever NASCAR K&N Pro Series East pole, but later on got into an incident that heavily damaged his No. 41 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet, and Rhodes went on to a disapointing 15th place finish out of 26 cars. Tonight was the second time of his NASCAR K&N Pro Series career that he started a race inside the top-10.

See below for the full race results:

RACE STATISTICS Fastest Qualifier: Ben Rhodes *, Time: 18.589 Seconds, Speed: 71.655 mph Failed To Qualify: Clint King (07), Beto Monteiro (12), Nathan Russell (75), Brandon Jones (33) (Jones replace Sam Hunt in No.18 due to illness) Time of Race: 1 hrs., 9 mins, 12 secs     Average Speed: 48.121 mph     Margin of Victory: .596 Seconds Caution Flags: Laps 11-16; 40-44; 56-61; 64-72; 85-92; 94-100; 130-136; 140-145.  8 for 54 laps. Lap Leaders: Ben Rhodes (grid), Gray Gaulding 1-31, Daniel Suarez 32-150. Total Laps Led: Daniel Suarez 119, Gray Gaulding 31.  1 changes involving 2 drivers.

Doug Coby brought home the victory this evening for the second annual Battle at the Beach at the Daytona International Speedway. This was Coby's second career win in an exhibition event under the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. Coby only ended up leading two laps of the event.

Jason Myers ended up finishing the event tonight as he did not last season. Myers started the event from the sixth spot and worked his way up to the second position when the checkers fell. He fell just short of the leader by 0.322 seconds on the final lap, however, Myers does has something to be proud of as he grabed his best finish in an exhibition event.

Luke Fleming also captured his best finish of the Battle at the Beach tonight after a third place effort. In 2013, Fleming started the event in the 13th position but brought home his No. 40 Jerry Hunt Auto Sales to a 19th place run. He started the event this evening from the ninth spot.

Tonight's pole sitter Ryan Preece was having such a good day going for him until the final laps of the race. On lap 143, with seven laps remaining, Preece got into the lap car of Dave Sapienza to send him around and then suffered a flat tire from the contact. Preece persevered and went on to a fourth place finish. The 2013 champion led all but the last two laps of the Battle at the Beach.