Former winners Kevin Harvick (2007), Michael Waltrip (2001, 2003), Jeff Gordon (1997, 1999, 2005), Bill Elliott (1985, 1987), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2004), Jimmie Johnson (2006), and Ryan Newman (2008) did race in the event finishing second, seventh, thirteenth, twenty-third, twenty-seventh, thirty-first, and thirty-sixth respectively.

Since 2005, NASCAR's top 35 owners points standings from the previous season automatically qualify those teams (not the drivers) into the event.

This is followed by a combination of last years' owners' points, pole qualifying speed and if needed, a past champions' provisional fills out the field.

• The Gatorade Duels, the 150-mile qualifying races, will determine starting positions for the Daytona 500 beyond the front row.

In the event of cancellation, the field will be set according to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rule Book.

Country singer Keith Urban performed a concert on the infield singing "Days Go By", "Sweet Thing", and "Better Life".

However, from there on, Digger would draw much opposition, including sites, forums, and blogs warning FOX about his use.

[4][5] During the drivers' meeting, NASCAR announced there would be a competition caution on lap 25 because of overnight rain.

Despite threatening weather, the race started at 3:30 pm, with the green flag at 3:41 pm, waved by three-time champion Bobby Allison as the "Martin and Martin" front row led the field to the start of the race.

The first caution came out on lap 9 when Aric Almirola got tapped from behind by David Ragan and spun near the entrance to pit road, nearly collecting Travis Kvapil.

On lap 80, Daytona 500 rookie Joey Logano avoided Scott Speed losing control out of turn 4 but made contact with the front of Greg Biffle's car, causing him to crash head-on into the inside retaining wall on the front stretch, ending his day.

Busch won the race off pit road edging ahead of his teammate Denny Hamlin by over half a car length, while Hermie Sadler reported bad weather about 40 minutes away from the track.

David Stremme blew a tire on pit road as soon as his teammates Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler exited.

This began when Earnhardt Jr. spun Brian Vickers into traffic toward the end of the backstretch, collecting race dominator Busch and his brother Kurt, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, and Earnhardt Jr.'s teammate Jimmie Johnson.

and Ky. Busch, R. Gordon, Hamlin, and McMurray gave NASCAR requests and calls to black-flag Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt was penalized on two counts by NASCAR; first, he was sent to the tail end of the longest line for overaggressive driving, and the ensuing penalty meant he was not granted the beneficiary as a result.

Brian Vickers was angry and said when interviewed "To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous.

I just kind of ease on over and he went to block me and hit me in the fender sending us both off, sent me down into the grass and I tried to recover my car.

Later that week, Earnhardt Jr. gave a public apology for the incident and decided that he should have thought before he made his move that obviously would have crashed Vickers.

EST, sixteen minutes after the start of the red flag, NASCAR officials decided to call the race declaring Kenseth as the winner.

For the Daytona 500, the rule applies to a car if a crash takes place in the Gatorade Duel or in the Friday or Saturday practice.