Who's That Driver Leading the Race?

How bad do you want it? It's a question even Tim McGraw asks in one of his songs. It's also a question 43 drivers asked at the beginning of the 2010 Daytona 500. No this article isn't exactly a recap but more a look at the passion and dedication that lurked upon the field.

I've got to start with the guys who many thought would walk away with that trophy. Kevin Harvick seemed like an early candidate as the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil led many laps and was leading on lap 206(race ended at lap 208). He ended up finishing 7th. Others of those big namers who lead and who were in contention were the No.16 Greg Biffle and the No.99 Carl Edwards. Biffle finished a very happy 3rd and Edwards finished a very well 9th place.

Okay let's talk about those guys we don't hear so much about! Scott Speed, driver of the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota led laps. He lead lap 168 after the caution and led from lap 174 to lap 184. It was fantastic to see Scott Speed lead laps at the Daytona 500 and that is quite the accomplishment for him and his team. Unfortunatley he had old tires and ended up finishing 19th. He should be pretty proud.

How about good ole` AJ Allmendinger driver of the No. 43 Best Buy Ford. In the matter of ten laps he jumped from 21st to 4th in only ten laps, and on lap 45 he passed Kurt Busch to take the lead. Numerous amounts of times Allmendinger lead the race and ran in the top five until lap 142 when he spun out, he was running in fifth place at the time. AJ Allmendinger finished 32nd and should be proud of how well he ran for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Driver of the new No.56 Napa Auto Parts Toyota Martin Truex Jr had a fantastic race and finish leading laps and finishing in a promising 6th place. That is great for a new team, and should make both Martin Truex Jr and owner Michael Waltrip. Another notable mention is of course David Reutimann driver of the No.00 Aaron's Dream Machine, who finished 5th and helped pushed Dale Earnhardt Jr to his remarkable 2nd place finish. Way to go for Michael Waltrip Racing.

And finally the No.1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet of Jamie McMurray! The winner of the 2010 Daytona 500. McMurray had a new team and it was up in the air whether or not the team would finish solid. Jamie Mac hung out in the back for a while and slowly but steadily worked his way to the front, being sure to avoid any wrecks along the way.

After only leading two laps Jamie McMurray went on to spin right into victory lane.

So what made the Daytona 500 a fantastic and unbelievable race. The fact that there was 21 lead changes and four of them were names that were rarely ever mentioned by the commentators, especially for leading laps in the Daytona 500.

A GREAT DAYTONA 500!!
(And of course Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 2nd, that was also fantastic, but that's a whole different story!)

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The opinions in this story are the writers and photo is from my personal collection.