Fiery crash overshadows Matt Kenseth win …
The 54th running of the Daytona 500 turned out to be one for the record books. In the first ever Monday night prime-time telecast of the race event, fans witnessed several accidents that included the fiery crash of Juan Pablo Montoya.
The race, slated to be held on Sunday, February 26, was posponded due to persistent rain.
While driving under a caution last night, Montoya was trying to catch up to the pack on the 42nd lap when he crashed into a track drying truck carrying a jet engine and 200 gallons of jet fuel. A surreal fire caused the race to be delayed for more than two hours while the track crew cleaned up the carnage.
Montoya said, “I didn’t think about the truck. I thought, I’m going to be hitting the jet and it’s not going to be fun. Before I got there, I thought, ‘This thing is going to be on fire pretty bad’ — and it was.”
“When you’re in the car, every time you hit like that it’s a big bang and you hit and the pit crew was trying to ask me if I was okay, but I was getting out. I saw the flames and my helmet got a little burned.”
The drivers stood around on the track during the red flag period. Brad Keselowski spent the wait time tweeting from his smartphone, picking up 200,000 followers along the way.
After the track crew scrubbed the jet fuel from the racing surface with Tide detergent, the race finally resumed and Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing took top honors — his second 500 victory. Dale Earnhardt., Jr. finished second and Greg Biffle was third.
Dave Blaney of Tommy Baldwin Racing sat in first place throughout the long delay. He and his team were hoping the track would be deemed unsafe or more rain would cause officials to call the race. Those pipe dreams failed to materialize and he finished in 15th spot.
Check out the crash video below:
Photo: Video Screen Grab