DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In a race marred by both fire and rain, Matt Kenseth managed to hold on in the final 38 laps to win his second Daytona 500 on Monday night.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished second, just 0.210 seconds behind Kenseth. Greg Biffle, Kenseth’s teammate with Roush Fenway Racing, finished third in the race that finally ended around 1:00 a.m. Eastern time.
The race, which was already delayed by rain from its traditional Sunday afternoon start to Monday evening, was brought to a halt during a caution lap when Juan Pablo Montoya lost control of his Chevrolet and slammed into the back of a jet dryer truck, causing the jet fuel-laden vehicle to explode in flames.
Montoya, a former Formula 1 driver and winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500, was not injured in the accident, which knocked him out of the race with just 40 laps remaining. The driver of the jet dryer was taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluation.
The incident delayed the race for over two hours while crews worked to clean up the mess.
Denny Hamlin led the most laps in the race – a total of 57 laps – before finishing fourth in a Toyota, and Jeff Burton finished fifth in a Chevrolet.
Martin Truex, Jr. was the leader at the halfway point to win the $200,000 bonus.
Former Indy Car driver Danica Patrick finished 38th in her NASCAR Sprint Cup debut after getting involved in a wreck on the second lap of the race.
Kenseth, who also won the rain-shortened 2009 Daytona 500, picked up $1,589,397 for the victory.