2010 Daytona 500

, where the race was held The 2010 Daytona 500 was the 1st of the 36 stock car races in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, It was held on February 14, 2010, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona's turns are banked at 31 degrees, and the front stretch—the location of the finish line—is banked at 18 degrees. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. conceived the Daytona 500, which was first held in 1959; it is the successor to shorter races held on beaches in Daytona Beach. The race has been the opening round of the NASCAR season since 1982, and from 1988, it is one of four events that require cars to run restrictor plates. The Daytona 500 offers the most prize money of any American auto race. Winning the race is considered equal to winning either the World Series, the Super Bowl or The Masters. Furthermore, the four restrictor plate opening were expanded to their greatest size since the 1989 Daytona 500 of 63/64-inches for greater horsepower. NASCAR's vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton said that the changes would give control back to the drivers, "'Boys, have at it' and have a good time." Following an investigation of the circuit's safety barriers and a collision that sent Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards into the catchfence at the 2009 Aaron's 499, track workers raised the height of the Daytona International Speedway catchfences from to . The cost was not stated, and the work was completed in mid-January 2010. An spokesperson for the track's owner and operator International Speedway Corporation said, "Whenever we have an incident that impacts any of our systems, we take that opportunity to more closely scrutinize it and look at it across the company. Whatever we learn in these analyses, we'll look and see where it can be applied to other tracks. The challenge is each track is different in terms of banking and speed, so our primary focus right now was on Talladega and Daytona." == Practice and qualifier ==

Six practice sessions were scheduled before the race on February 14. The first two, on February 5, were scheduled to run 80 and 90 minutes, respectively. The next two, on February 10, lasted 90 and 50 minutes, respectively. The final session on February 13 lasted 85 minutes. NASCAR moved the second practice session to Saturday to provide eight drivers who did not set a lap time with some on-track running. David Gilliland led the session with a 48.072-second lap, ahead of Jeff Fuller, Terry Cook, and Derrike Cope. Qualifying was held a day early to avoid clashing with Super Bowl XLIV, which was moved forward one week by the National Football League. Friday's rain-out gave drivers little on-track preparation. Martin took his first Daytona 500 pole position, and the 49th of his career, with a lap of 47.074 seconds. Martin was joined on the grid's front row by Earnhardt. Bowyer slid sideways into an outside barrier after his right-rear tire blew leaving turn two. Reutimann was close by, and hit the rear of Bowyer's car. Reutimann's rear, in turn, was struck by Cope's slowing car. Early in the session, Johnson and Kahne won the Gatorade Duels on February 11. The starting grid was finalized with Johnson, Kahne, Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, Bowyer, and Kurt Busch completing the top ten. The 11 drivers that failed to qualify were Casey Mears, Todd Bodine, Gilliland, Cook, Cope, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Sorenson, Mike Wallace, Norm Benning, and Fuller. Jeff Gordon switched to a back-up car for the race after being involved in a three-car accident. Burton led with a 46.108-second lap, ahead of Harvick, Ambrose, Reutimann, and Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Sam Hornish Jr., Regan Smith, Montoya, and Hamlin. 15 minutes in, Bobby Labonte was hit by Scott Speed and sent towards a left-hand wall at , but narrowly avoided hitting it. Smoke billowed from A. J. Allmendinger's engine compartment, and his team changed engines after the session. Qualifying results == Race ==

Live television coverage of the race began in the United States at midday Eastern Standard Time (EST) (UTC−05:00) on Fox. Commentary was provided by lap-by-lap analyst Mike Joy, with analysis from three-time Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip, and former crew chief Larry McReynolds. Around the start of the race, the weather was clear with the air temperature ; conditions were expected to remain consistent. David Uth, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Orlando, began pre-race ceremonies with an inovcation. Singer and Grammy Award winner Harry Connick Jr. performed the national anthem, and Junior Johnson, former Daytona 500 champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, commanded the drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Gordon, Burton, and Waltrip moved to the rear of the field because they switched into a back-up car, and Allmendinger, and Edwards did the same for changing their engines. and littering debris on the track. Smith retired while Keselowski and Hornish entered their garages for repairs. Most drivers made pit stops for tire and chassis adjustments. Martin took the lead on the lap-12 restart, followed by Earnhardt and Montoya. On the next lap, Harvick pushed Montoya past Martin on the outside for the lead. Montoya led just one lap, however, as Earnhardt passed him on lap 14. Earnhardt then weaved to block drivers from overtaking him. All vehicles were directed to park on pit road so that track engineers could inspect the damage. They fixed the pothole with two compounds that did not hold owing to moisture and cold weather; a third attempt permitted the race to continue. Drivers were summoned to their cars at 4:52 EST, and engines were restarted eight minutes later. Racing resumed under caution, and the pit road was reopened to drivers. Bowyer led Ragan and Kahne on the inside lane at the lap-125 restart. Sadler pushed Kahne past Bowyer (who went right) for the lead two laps later. On lap 129, Kahne repelled Bowyer by turning right, allowing Sadler to pull alongside him. Bowyer took the lead on the next lap, but Sadler passed him before the finish line. Sadler lost the lead to Bowyer on lap 131, but reclaimed it on the following lap. During the caution, most drivers made pit stops for tires and adjustments. Sadler led the 146 restart with two new tires, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick. Truex passed Sadler two laps later with help from Harvick to take the lead. Sadler went to the outside on lap 150 and dropped to tenth place after a failed challenge for first. Harvick reclaimed the lead by overtaking Truex on the inside on the next lap. Montoya gained the lead for the second time on the 154th lap, but Harvick passed him to recover the lead. Drivers reentered their cars at 6:22 p.m. EST, and restarted their engines eight minutes later. The race resumed under caution as the leaders stopped for tire and car adjustments. Speed took the lead for the lap 168 restart. On the following lap, Biffle used drafting from teammates Ragan and Edwards on the outside lane to pass Speed for first. On the 176th lap, Speed retook the lead from Biffle on the inside lane. He battled Biffle for the following seven laps until Biffle moved away on lap 184. Kurt Busch overtook Edwards for third on lap 188. The seventh caution came six laps later, when Sadler lost control of his car on the backstretch and struck the barrier, collecting Kvapil and Newman. Bowyer led Biffle and Truex at the lap 198 restart. Earnhardt said finishing second validated the changes his team made, and was confident about his prospects over the coming races. Third-placed Biffle said he felt he made his move too soon on the first green–white–checker finish, "The restarts, I couldn't get anybody to push me, I kept getting a run. I wish I waited until the backstretch to make my big run. I did it on the frontstretch. I gave Junior and all the guys too much of an opportunity to catch us." The track was later repaved from July 5 to December 10, its first repaving since 1978. Earnhardt said he was unsatisfied with the reviewed green-white-checker finish rules because he was uncertain about drivers' actions, but he did not believe it was overdone, "I feel like the fans deserve probably more of a show, so that's what they got. The green-white-checkered was put into play to give us an opportunity to finish the race under green. Finishing under yellow is quite a melodramatic moment." Gordon reiterated an earlier view of his that only one attempt should be made, "I believe in doing things for the fans but I also think they have their limits. It wasn't going to give us a winning day by not having multiple green-white-checkers but it would have saved us a race car." Chevrolet led the Manufacturers' Championship with nine points, three ahead of Ford, five ahead of Toyota, and six ahead of Dodge. The race attracted 13.294 million television viewers; excluding the two stoppages, it took three hours, 47 minutes and 16 seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 0.119 seconds. Race results == Standings after the race ==

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings • Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the driver standings. == Notes and references ==