2009 Daytona 500 - Race

Race

Rain had been pounding the track during the pre-race. NASCAR announced there would be a competition caution on lap 25. Bobby Allison waved the green flag as the "Martin and Martin" front row start the race. Martin Truex Jr. led the first lap. Mark Martin led the next lap before being passed by Kyle Busch. The first caution came out on lap 9 when Aric Almirola was tapped from behind by David Ragan and spun near the front of pit road, nearing collecting Travis Kvapil. The race resumed on lap 11, Busch still leading. Busch would remain in the lead until lap 53, when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. passed him for the lead. With the help of his former teammate, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart passed Earnhardt, Jr entering Turn 4 for the led. Shortly after, Travis Kvapil smacked the wall twice on lap 55, bringing out the third caution. Earnhardt, Jr. missed his pit stall, and lost a lap because he was forced to pit again. Tony Stewart came out of the pits with the lead, until being passed by Jeff Gordon on lap 70. Lap 72, Ryan Newman was in the pits changing tires under green flag conditions when somehow the car fell off the jack while changing the left-side tires. Newman's crew had to use two jacks to lift the car off the ground and complete the pit stop. On lap 80, 18 year-old Joey Logano avoided Scott Speed losing control out of Turn 4, but made contact with Greg Biffle's front end causing Logano to crash head on into the inside retaining wall on the frontstretch, ending his day. Kyle Busch won the race off pit road edging ahead of teammate Denny Hamlin by over half a car length, while Hermie Sadler reported bad weather about 40 minutes away from the track.

The race reached the halfway mark on lap 101, meaning the race could be called official if it rains. Jeff Gordon pitted under green over tire wear concerns; Jeff's crew changed tires on lap 113. Green flag pit stops ensued on lap 119. David Stremme blew a tire on pit road as soon as teammates Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler exited. Sadler wound up in first and Sorenson in second while the entire field had to pit one lap later. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made his second pit stop mistake in Lap 121 by completing his pit stop with his right front tire over the outside boundary line of his pit box. Earnhardt, Jr. was held for one lap as a penalty. On lap 124, confusion over the recipient of the "Lucky Dog" free pass resulted in The Big One happening, when Earnhardt spun Brian Vickers into traffic toward the end of the backstretch, collecting Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch, the latter of which dominated the race, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, and teammate Jimmie Johnson. Robby Gordon's car slid in front of Earnhardt, Jr. within a couple of feet of contact. "To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That's my biggest problem with it. But, apparently, (Earnhardt, Jr.) wanted a caution pretty bad," Vickers said afterwards. Both Vickers and Earnhardt, Jr. were a lap down before the multicar wreck occurred, and Junior was unaware that he was battling Vickers for the position. Ironically, no lucky dog was awarded for the caution. At this time, Kevin Harvick pushed Matt Kenseth into a battle for first between Kenseth and Sadler. On lap 138, Jeff Burton smacked the wall, collecting Paul Menard. Burton was then black-flagged for having a piece of sheetmetal hanging from his bumper.

On lap 146, Matt Kenseth took the lead from Sadler a lap after the action resumed. Aric Almirola was then spun by Kasey Kahne after Almirola made contact with Sam Hornish, Jr. on the backstretch. At this time, rain began to fall on the track under the yellow. On lap 152, the cars came into pit road under the red flag; Kenseth remained in his car while other drivers stayed in theirs and others exited their cars. During the red flag period, asked what happened with Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt, Jr said, "I got a run on him and (Vickers) saw me coming. I had a big ol' run on him and I went to the inside. I didn't try to make no late move and make some kind of surprise or anything. I just kind of ease on over and he went to block me and hit me in the fender sending us both off, sent me down into the grass and I tried to recover my car. I got back into him coming back into the racetrack." When asked what happened was accidental, Earnhardt, Jr said, "Yeah, it was accidental. I didn't want to wreck the field."

At 6:49 p.m. EST, sixteen minutes after the start of the red flag, NASCAR officials decided to call the race declaring Kenseth the winner. "It's going to be really wet out here because I'm crying like a baby," said Kenseth moments after the race was declared. "I tell you what, after last year, winning a race means a lot to me," Kenseth later said who was winless in 2008.

Kevin Harvick, winner of the Bud Shootout, was second. Richard Petty Motorsports drivers A.J. Allmendinger (#44), Elliott Sadler (#19), and Reed Sorenson (#43) finished 3rd, 5th, and 9th respectively. Michael Waltrip had the best finishing Toyota in 7th. Tony Stewart was 8th in his first race as a driver and team owner. Polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. finished in 11th place. Gatorade Duel #1 winner Jeff Gordon finished 13th. Macros Ambrose, in his first 500 start, was in 17th place. Jimmie Johnson, the defending champion, came in 31st place. Scott Speed, the high-finishing rookie, was 35th. Ryan Newman, the defending winner, finished in 39th. Kyle Busch, who led the most laps (88) and was the Gatorade Duel #2 winner, finished in 41st position due to being involved in the multicar crash on lap 124. Joey Logano, in his first Daytona 500 start also, finishes 43rd.