COMMENTARY | Feb. 27 proved to be an exhilarating day for NASCAR drivers and fans alike. The Daytona 500 had originally been scheduled to take place Sunday afternoon, but was postponed due to rain. It was then rescheduled to occur in the middle of the day on Monday, but once again was pushed back due to inclement weather. As a result, the Daytona 500 was aired on Monday prime-time television for the first time in the race’s history.
The event proved to be more than exciting enough for its prime-time airing. On the second lap of the race, Elliot Sadler bumped into the rear of Jimmie Johnson’s car, sending Johnson into the wall. The wreck, which now seems to have been a harbinger of all the drama to come, took out Danica Patrick, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne, David Ragan and Kurt Busch.
Once the track was cleared, the race resumed in earnest. The excitement, however, was not over. There were a number of other incidents, but the real show began just after a caution flag on lap 158. Juan Pablo Montoya, who drives the No. 42 Target car, pitted due to a vibration. The pit crew changed the tires, carried out a quick inspection of the transmission, and Montoya sprinted back out to avoid losing a lap under caution. Upon entering turn three, however, something broke in Montoya’s car and he lost control at the worst possible time. The subsequent spin toward the wall sent him directly into the rear of a jet dryer, which had been sent out during the caution to clear debris from the track.
The jet dryer had been carrying approximately 200 gallons of jet fuel, which began spilling out and running down to the apron like a small river. The fuel soon ignited, and track officials were faced with a wall of roaring flames that seemed to reach a height of 20 feet or more. Both Montoya and the driver of the jet dryer were thankfully able to walk away with no serious injuries.
The race had already provided ample excitement for anyone who even remotely enjoys NASCAR. The fire on turn three, however, created a spectacle that I am happy I did not miss. It took firefighters quite some time to tame the roaring beast, which stretched from the wall down to the apron, and the subsequent clean-up operation required a lot of creativity and hard work by a large team of officials and technicians.
The delay eventually came to an end, drivers returned to their cars, and Matt Kenseth went on to beat Dale Earnhardt Jr. by just 0.21 seconds for an appropriately dramatic end to a race that will go down in history.
I now consider myself lucky to have missed my regular Monday-night shows on Fox. The Daytona 500 proved to be some of the most entertaining television in recent memory and I have a feeling that the sport earned itself some new fans as a result.