[5] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.

[7] Before the race, Matt Kenseth led the Drivers' Championship with 633 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood in second with 622.

[12] Michael Waltrip, with a time of 45.516, was second quickest, ahead of Kurt Busch, Travis Kvapil, and Almirola.

[12] Regan Smith, Ambrose, Carl Edwards, Earnhardt Jr., and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the first ten positions.

[14] Gordon, Bill Elliott, Casey Mears, Allmendinger and Keselowski rounded out the top ten.

"[15] Tony Stewart was stripped of his second place starting spot after his car failed post-qualifying inspection.

Penske Racing scrambled to get Sam Hornish Jr. in the #22 and had Kenny Wallace (who himself was on standby for expectant father Kevin Harvick after NASCAR would not approve Austin Dillon for Sprint Cup competition at Daytona) ready to step in if Hornish couldn't make it to Daytona on time.

Ragan soon pitted and Josh Wise took the lead followed by Martin Truex Jr. After everything cycled through, Greg Biffle was the new race leader.

Behind them, Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya made contact while Bobby Labonte spun to avoid the wreck.

Cars were coming down pit road when Jimmie Johnson got turned from behind by Michael Waltrip and spun and nailed the inside wall on the front stretch.

Waltrip spun and collected Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Bill Elliott, Regan Smith, and Martin Truex Jr. Tony Stewart won the race off of pit road and lead the field to the restart with 30 laps to go.

Kenseth tried to get to Stewart's outside but contact between Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle sent Biffle into Kevin Harvick and caused a 15 car crash that also collected Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Kyle Busch, David Ragan, Kasey Kahne, Travis Kvapil, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Regan Smith, Carl Edwards, Paul Menard, Terry Labonte, and Jamie McMurray.