Daytona 500

Yesterday, the Great American Race was raced in Daytona Beach, Florida. As always, there was a great race, some crashes and a great finish.

Racer Kevin Harvick started 37th at the beginning of the race, just ahead up penalized driver Jeff Gordon and ended up winning after a photo finish with Mark Martin. This was Harvick's 23th time racing in Daytona and he finally won it.

Going into the final lap, these 2 were neck in neck. With just a half lap to go, there was a crash and no caution flag, so it was just Martin and Harvick. Martin was behind by a couple mila-seconds, but had the inside track. It looked like Martin was going to take over the lead, but Harvick made a move to stay in the lead. Finally, at the finish line, no one knew who won. The NASCAR officials had to check a replay so that the decision could be made final.

The fact that Harvick started 37th makes him the lowest starting racer to win the race. In an interview after the race Harvick said, ' This is the Daytona 500, can you believe it?" This was one of the closest finishes in Daytona 500 history with Harvick winning by .020 seconds. Harvicks previous best in the Daytona 500 was 4th in 2003 and 2004. It looked like luck was on his side as the 2 top contenders to win the race- Tony Stewert and Kurt Busch both crashed with 47 laps to go.

So I say congrats to Kevin Harvick and good luck next year.