Matt Kenseth has joined the ranks of multi-time Daytona 500 champions. This time he made it all 500 miles, after claming a rain-shortened triumph in 2009.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. barely nipped Greg Biffle at the line to finish second. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five. Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, polesitter Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, and Mark Martin completed the top-10 finishers. Dave Blaney, who led during the two-plus hour red flag after Juan Pablo Montoya struck a safety truck, wound up 15th.
The race was due to start just after 1 p.m Sunday, but torrential rains pushed the race back finally to a 7 p.m. start Monday night. All 500 miles were completed, despite the long red flag for the Montoya incident and subsequent cleanup. The Colombian racer and the driver of the safety truck were both okay despite the horrifying impact.
Kenseth becomes the first driver to win the 500 after claiming his Thursday qualifying race since Earnhardt Jr. in 2004. It is Ford's 13th Daytona 500 triumph and its third in the last four years. The Blue Oval Brigade largely dominated Speedweeks, with a sweep of the front row and Kenseth's triumphs in his Gatorade Duel and the 500. It was a performance akin to Dale Jarrett's dominance in 2000.