Junior's electrifying charge salvages a Daytona fiasco

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It had become nothing short of a fiasco, with a pothole in the track surface leaving the grandstands half-empty, and multiple green-white-checkered attempts leaving race cars fully wrecked. After nearly six hours, with spectators shivering in a cold and dark they had not expected, it was drawing comparisons to the tire debacle that had plagued Indianapolis Motor Speedway two years ago. It was difficult to find anyone outside of a driver suit who wasn't prepared to label the Daytona 500 as a disaster.

And who could argue with them? Twice the race had to be halted under a red flag because of a hole that developed from unseasonably cold temperatures, a fissure in the low groove of Turn 2 that likely chewed up one of Jimmie Johnson's tires and later took a bite out of Clint Bowyer's front splitter. Fans began to stream out of the gates long before the event finally ended. Drivers cursed over the radio and sparks flew as cars bottomed out trying to a avoid a spackle-colored patch. All the momentum NASCAR had built over the last two weeks, with the furious finishes in the qualifying races and the mania over Danica Patrick, seemed swallowed by a football-shaped gap in the asphalt.

The hole story

A pothole approximately 18 inches long developed in the lower groove of Turn 2 at Daytona, forcing NASCAR officials to halt the Daytona 500 under a red flag Sunday afternoon. The stoppage came 122 laps into the race with Clint Bowyer in the lead. The race was red-flagged a second time with only 39 laps remaining after the patch crumbled.

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• France on track situation
• Johnson has tire problem

And then came Junior.

He came out of nowhere, literally, wedged way back in a hornet's nest of stock cars as the field took the green flag for the final time. The No. 88 car had endured a problematic day, getting snookered on an early pit stop and struggling to find the right adjustments and seemingly destined for another disappointing finish. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had never really been a factor Sunday, and with a little over a lap remaining he appeared trapped deep on the high side as the contenders streaked to the front at the bottom.

But suddenly, as the cars passed under the white flag, something stupendous happened, something that reminded everyone of what Earnhardt is capable of, something that harkened back to the days early last decade when Junior owned Daytona International Speedway as if he had a deed to the place. He muscled past Carl Edwards. He blew by David Reutimann. He charged by Martin Truex Jr. And then, like a fullback barreling through the tackles with his head down and his elbows out, he wedged himself in between Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer. Cars wiggled. Mouths dropped. And then he was clear, past them all, with only Jamie McMurray between him and an unthinkable second victory in the Daytona 500.

"I saw the 88," McMurray said later, "and I was like, 'Crap.' "

He was in the minority. It was one of those moments only Earnhardt can create, the kind that galvanized fans remaining in the grandstand and brought them whooping to their feet, and likely made those who left early second-guess their decision. The Daytona 500 was extended to 208 laps under NASCAR's revised green-white-checkered rule, and had it gone to 209, Earnhardt would almost certainly have won. Ultimately, he ran out of room -- off the final corner Earnhardt pulled to within a car length of McMurray, now driving a car co-owned by Earnhardt's stepmother Teresa, but never had a real chance of getting around.

But in a way, it didn't matter. It had been a brief but electrifying charge that for a moment made everyone forget about the delays and the red flags and that one damned pothole, an instance that for the first time in a long time showed everyone the real power of Junior, a 10th-to-second bailout of the Daytona 500 like many hope a revived Earnhardt can do for the sport. Oh, no question, it didn't soothe over everything -- it didn't make up for all the people who got fed up and walked out, it didn't absolve the speedway for struggling to find an efficient method of patching the hole in the track surface, it didn't change the fact that many left NASCAR's biggest race grumbling and unhappy. (Continued)