2013 NASCAR Daytona 500: Jimmie Johnson takes win

How would you celebrate a victory in the Daytona 500? Well, if you’re Jimmie Johnson the obvious answer is by performing the Harlem Shake

Late Sunday night, after fulfilling his media and sponsor obligations, Johnson was taking pictures in the Daytona International Speedway infield when a team member had the idea of performing the dance craze sweeping the country.

NASCAR’s biggest race is over and done with for another year. But who besides Jimmie Johnson left the Daytona 500 as a winner, and who went home as a loser?

Danica Patrick

The television ratings for Sunday’s Daytona 500 were up 30 percent from 2012, posting the best metered market ratings since the 2006 edition of The Great American Race. On Monday morning, Fox tweeted that the overnight rating was a 10.0/22, a huge jump from last year’s race which was affected by bad weather and finished on Monday.

Danica Patrick’s success, both in qualifying for pole position and then remaining in the top 10 for much of the day, will likely be cited as a significant source for the increased interest. Both Patrick and Jeff Gordon, who’s also considered a “crossover” star with wider appeal, had the fastest cars during qualifying and started the race on the front row. It was a historic moment for women in sports that received appropriate attention throughout the week. That success and her ability to compete and contend throughout the afternoon likely kept non-traditional fans tuned into the race.

1) Jimmie Johnson’s victory is a surprise

In its purest sense, Jimmie Johnson’s Daytona 500 victory wasn’t a complete surprise. After all, how could it be, considering Johnson has five Sprint Cup trophies on his mantel and has won every major there is to win in NASCAR?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Danica Patrick has already started second-guessing her decision to not pull out to the bottom line during the final lap of the Daytona 500 but is overall satisfied with her eighth place day. She spent most of the day riding on the high line and never did pull to the bottom. As a result, she doesn’t think she got a lot of drafting practice but is content having finished the race.

“We had a real steady day,” Patrick said. “We got off to a nice start. I wish I had led at the start and thought I was but it was nice to lead later on - to lead laps. It was a real steady and smart day, running half-throttle. I just didn’t think it was very wise to drop down, I would have just fallen to the back.”

Within laps of each other, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch both suffered mechanical failures, as the leader, leaving Denny Hamlin as the sole Gibbs car in contention for the Daytona 500 victory.

Kenseth was the first car to blow up but his team hasn’t diagnosed the issue yet. They still haven’t counted out repairing the car and turning some more laps.

It appeared Matt Kenseth was on his way to becoming the fourth driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s. However, while leading with 52 laps to go, smoke began erupting from underneath Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota and he immediately slowed on the track and came down pit road.

According to Kenseth, the issue had something to do with either the transmission or the engine, but he was unsure what exactly ended his race prematurely.

Update: Jimmie Johnson wins the Daytona 500

With 63 laps remaining in the Daytona 500 a six-car wreck involving the cars of Carl Edwards, Trevor Bayne, David Ragan, David Gilliland, Josh Wise, Austin Dillon and Terry Labonte erupted.

After a long period of clean, single-file racing, we have another crash in the 2013 Daytona 500. Brad Keselowski looked like he got bumped and got sideways in a turn, going all the way down to the apron as sparks flew. Behind him, however, a bit of chaos erupted.

Keselowski saved it -- though it’s unclear how much damage his car took as he bottomed out -- but others weren’t so lucky. David Gilliland, Terry Labonte, Trevor Bayne and Austin Dillon, among others, were all caught up in the aftermath, with multiple cars sustaining significant damage.

Update: Jimmie Johnson wins the Daytona 500. Danica finishes in the top-10.

The Daytona 500 is at the halfway point and Danica Patrick has made history by becoming the first woman to lead a lap in NASCAR’s biggest event. The historic moment occurred following a Lap 90 caution for debris.

A multi-car wreck on Lap 32 has quickly changed the complexion of the Daytona 500 as many pre-race favorites -- including Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick -- were collected in the ensuing aftermath.

The crash occurred shortly after the day’s first restart following a caution for debris when Kyle Busch made contact with the rear bumper of Kasey Kahne’s car and turned him down the track and into the path of Juan Pablo Montoya. Jamie McMurray and Casey Mears were also involved.

The first crash of the 2013 Daytona 500 is in the books after Kasey Kahne got sideways on lap 33 in the middle of a crowded pack of traffic. Until the 33rd lap, all had been quiet at Daytona, with Jeff Gordon leading and only a debris caution slowing down the race. But that all changed just after the caution ended as Kahne got sideways coming out of the tri-oval, sending his car into the infield and creating a bit of a pileup.

All told, Kahne got away pretty well. His car took damage as it hit the infield, but other drivers got caught up in a worse, secondary wreck.

Danica Patrick led the field to the green flag for the 55th running of the Daytona 500, but it was Jeff Gordon who led the first lap. Patrick quickly settled into the second position and tucked her car behind Gordon’s Chevrolet.

One concern for Gordon in the early going was a piece of debris that had latched onto the grill opening of his car, causing his engine to overheat. But a timely caution for debris on the track allowed Gordon to close up on the pace car and use the air to knock the wrapper away.

We just thought this GIF was cool. That’s all. Cars are on the track and racing, and you can watch this track cam on an infinite loop.

James Franco had one job. As the designated dude that gives the instruction for Daytona 500 drivers to start their engines, all he had to do was say a few words. The phrase is simple: “gentlemen, start your engines.” And it needed to be tweaked a bit because Danica Patrick, who earned the pole position, is not a gentleman.

Except, you know, Franco botched it. He probably meant to say, “Gentlemen, and Danica, start your engines.” It didn’t come out right, though, and Franco implied Danica isn’t even a driver. Watch:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Recently retired Super Bowl winning linebacker Ray Lewis is the honorary starter for the Daytona 500 and was in the media center before the race to talk about waiving the green flag and comparisons between NASCAR and the NFL.

Lewis is a close friend of defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski after the driver became a fan of his motivational videos on Youtube. Keselowski cited the Baltimore Ravens’ star as an inspiration and reached out to Lewis. The two formed a fast friendship and they’ve been in close contact leading up to the start of the Daytona 500.

A nasty wreck is making headlines at Daytona, but Sunday will see the running of the Daytona 500, same as usual. The latest odds for the contest have Tony Stewart as the favorite, with an 8-1 line on a win by No. 14. Kevin Harvick is just behind him as a favorite, with odds of 17-2 on a victory.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10-1), Jeff Gordon (10-1) and Kyle Busch (21-2) round out the top-five drivers oddsmakers see as having a chance at victory. Of the five, Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and Harvick all have wins in the Daytona 500, with Harvick’s 2007 victory being the most recent. A victory by Gordon would tie him with Cale Yarborough for four career victories, good for second on the list behind Richard Petty, who has seven.

As Danica Mania has consumed NASCAR and Kevin Harvick has won every race he’s entered, one driver has strangely flown under the radar in the days leading up to the Daytona 500.

It is an uncustomary role for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to be in, who almost always finds himself the center of attention on a given race weekend -- either by what he’s doing on the track or by the storylines off of it. And especially so any time the Sprint Cup Series competes at Daytona International Speedway.

Despite a crash that injured 28 fans on the final lap of the DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday, Sunday’s running of the Daytona 500 is scheduled to proceed as normal.

Saturday’s accident featured 12 cars and was caused by Regan Smith blocking Brad Keselowski as they came to the checkered flag of the 300-mile race at Daytona International Speedway. As the Smith and Keselowski cars began to slide sideways, the car driven by Kyle Larson made contact with Keselowski, sending Larson’s car into the air and the outside retaining wall. The shredded front end of the car sent debris, including a tire and engine, into the stands, causing injuries to 28 fans.

The threat of scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms remain in the forecast this afternoon for the 55th running of the Daytona 500. A cold front will stall across north-central Florida, and the location of where this front stalls will be key to where most of the shower and thunderstorm activity occurs.

The above image represents four different forecast models for Sunday afternoon. They all agree that there will be scattered showers along with dry breaks. The only major difference is the location of where the front stalls. As mentioned, this could be the difference between just a few delays or a wet afternoon out at the track.