Leaders should be afforded opportunity to race leaders (cont'd)

Thumbs up

Kenseth

• Matt Kenseth -- He qualified 39th and finished in Victory Lane (technically the car was on pit road when the race was called for rain, but forget the details). There is not an asterisk on the Harley J. Earl trophy that denotes the race was 152 laps instead of 200. It merely says 2009 Daytona 500 champion.

• Richard Petty Motorsports -- Three cars in the top 10: A.J. Allmendinger (third), Elliott Sadler (fifth) and Reed Sorenson (ninth).

• Clint Bowyer -- A fourth-place finish outta the box with a new team is a great start, whether Mother Nature intervened or not.

Impressed by ...

Mark Martin remaining extremely confident that he could challenge for the win, even while rain was falling and he was 16th. Who's to say he would not have won the race?

Thumbs down

Earnhardt Jr.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- Look at the bright side: It can only get better from here. Between the pit-road woes and being the catalyst for a 10-car wreck ... next week can't be any worse.

• Joey Logano -- The No. 20 has been in this position before. In 2002, the team finished 43rd in the Daytona 500 and recovered to win the championship. No, lightning won't strike twice -- but "Been There, Done That" T-shirts would be a nice gesture. Or maybe "SSDD" tees. Your call, rook.

• Digger -- No matter how it's spun, a cartoon gopher isn't going to lure kids to stock-car racing. Want folks to laugh at Digger? Have Bill Murray drop a frag.

Disappointed by ...

Junior, and not because he "misjudged" getting off the apron and clipped Brian Vickers. Rather, it was another race in which he was forced to press because of self-inflicted wounds. Until that's resolved, Junior Nation will merely be a fan base cheering for the most popular driver -- not a championship driver.

Fantasy Racing

NASCAR.COM's Race for the Smithson Trophy is under way:

• About the teams

Up next

It's billed as the West Coast Debut of NASCAR: the Auto Club 500 at Fontana. (I assumed folks on the left coast had TV and saw the Daytona 500 until I was enlightened: It's a marketing play on words -- get it?!)

And while Matt Kenseth has a great track record at Cali (two wins, six top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in 14 starts), know this: No driver has won the first two races in a season since Jeff Gordon in 1997.

The chase is on ...

One down, 25 to go until the Chase field is set at Richmond:

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.