Matt Kenseth got such a jump on the final restart he lost his pusher Greg Biffle. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were able to bypass the No. 17 and settle things amongst themselves.
Tony Stewart’s crew botched the final stop and Kyle Busch emerged from the pits with the lead during the fifth caution. Nobody was able to mount a serious challenge on the No. 18 after that.
Martin Truex Jr. made one last concerted charge at Denny Hamlin with three laps to go but lost grip and slid in behind the No. 11.
With 31 laps left to run, Greg Biffle made a banzai pass on Jimmie Johnson for the lead. Johnson had been struggling with lapped traffic, most notably in the person of one Ryan Newman which gave the driver of the No. 16 car the opening he needed. The pass caused such a stir amongst the nearly dozens of fans left awake in the grandstands it woke up several others in their respective rows. Sixteen laps later, Johnson slapped the wall to all but seal the deal for Biffle.
On the first green-white-checkered restart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green, both on worn tires as competitors behind them on fresh ones licked their chops. Clint Bowyer, propelled by a solid shot to his rear bumper from Ryan Newman, took the Hendrick duo three-wide towards the first turn and it didn’t work out too well for any of the three of them. Meanwhile, Newman snaked his way into the lead and, ultimately, the win.
Tony Stewart took the lead from Kyle Busch on lap 85 and appeared to be in a class of his own. The rain just sealed the deal.
Brad Keselowski prevailed on the final restart to keep Matt Kenseth behind him. Kenseth drove for all he was worth as the duo battled through lapped traffic, to no avail; he lost the race by 0.7 seconds.
In the midst of a race that dragged on at times, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson put on a whale of a show, racing side-by-side, lap after lap.
Denny Hamlin and Darian Grubb got served up a huge helping of redemption after their humiliations last season.
Matt Kenseth drifted high on the final restart to pick up teammate Greg Biffle, who never made a move on his teammate down the stretch. While Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled for second, Kenseth drove to his second Daytona 500 victory in four years.
Race One – A caution froze the field on the final lap of the race as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was trying to mount a challenge on Tony Stewart for the win. Race Two – Greg Biffle dominated the race but swept up on the final lap thinking he’d hook up with teammate Matt Kenseth to seal the deal. Instead, Kenseth dove down into the lower lane Biffle had opened for him, towing Jimmie Johnson in his wake to take the lead and the win.
Kyle Busch used a David Pearson, patent perfect slingshot pass to get around Tony Stewart coming to the line.
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