(L-R) Crew chief Steve Letarte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, and team owner Rick Hendrick celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida. (AFP)
Reuters/Daytona Beach, FloridaDale Earnhardt Jr. ended a 55-race winless spell when drove his Chevrolet to victory in a rain-interrupted, crash-marred Daytona 500 on Sunday in the season-opening NASCAR race. Denny Hamlin was second in a Toyota and Brad Keselowski took third in a Ford, placed ahead of Jeff Gordon and his Chevrolet after a video review by officials following the jam-packed finish at Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt used a push from team mate Gordon to win a two-lap shoot-out to the finish line after one of a series of crashes in the race set up the last mad dash as he registered his second Daytona crown after a string of near misses in recent years. “We got a little help from Jeff to get away,” said Earnhardt, who led six times for a race-high 54 laps and took the lead for good on lap 183. The race actually ended under a yellow caution flag waved just seconds before the leaders reached finish line as another six cars crashed. It was a marathon day and night at the speedway with the Great American Race completed after a six hour, 21 minute rain delay that came after the 38th lap and was the longest single day interruption in 56 editions of the race. Earnhardt’s triumph came 10 years after the 2004 victory by NASCAR’s most popular driver.