Matt Kenseth the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford won the rain-shortened 51st running of the Daytona 500 after NASCAR stopped the event 48 laps from the scheduled distance.
"Just to win a race after our season last year -- I didn't know if we were ever going to be able to do that again," said Kenseth and also added "To win the Daytona 500 is unbelievable.”
It was the first victory of both Kenseth's and team owner Jack Roush's in NASCAR's biggest race.
Roush said "We've been here for more than 20 years trying to do this thing," "I even got so conditioned for being frustrated through it that I was almost not believing that it would happen. I will be black and blue for the next couple of days from pinching myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming."
It was a dream come true for Kenseth the No. 17's crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, who labeled his first race for Kenseth on Sunday. Batting 1-1 has Blickensdorfer pondering his future.
"I'm thinking if we don't win the first practice at California, it's a failure," said Blickensderfer in the post-race press conference.
"Some guys having some bad days and not doing their best made their bad day, our bad day," said Busch.
NASCAR called the race on lap 152, 17 minutes after they brought the cars down pit road, the red flag displayed after rain showers descended on the track. The rain which had been forecasted for a few days had arrived after 6 p.m. after the start of the race.
The quick ending trapped several drivers in the pack after others ventured to chance into a Daytona 500 win. Tony Stewart led 15 laps, Jeff Gordon (14 laps) and Mark Martin (1 lap) all were charging back through the field and likely would have battled Kenseth and others for the win.
Stewart finished 8th, Gordon 13th and Martin 16th, Jimmie Johnson had mediocre outing in his first race back from winning three-straight NASCAR titles with a 31st-place finish.
The rest of the Top-5 was 2007 winner Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler. David Ragan, Michael Waltrip, Stewart, Reed Sorenson and Kurt Busch ronded out the Top-10.
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