What we learned at Daytona

Matt Kenseth led only one green-flag lap but came away with his first Daytona 500 win on Sunday. AP Related Links MARTIN: Junior goes from hero to goat BOWLES: Petty enjoys splendid debut NASCAR.com: Unofficial Daytona 500 results MARTIN: Kenseth gets first Daytona 500 win

Five things we learned in race No. 1 of the 2009 NASCAR season at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

1. Matt Kenseth deserved to win his first Daytona 500.

Though Kenseth led only one green-flag lap on Sunday, he made it count. Early on Sunday evening every team on pit road was reading the radar and knew that a rainstorm was blowing across Florida and heading directly for Daytona. When Kenseth got the word from his crew chief Drew Blickensderfer that it was time to make a last-ditch charge to the front even though some 125 miles remained in the race, Kenseth didn't hesitate. Following leader Elliott Sadler into Turn One, Kenseth dove low, mashed the gas, then received a push from Kevin Harvick, which propelled Kenseth into the lead. Before he reached Turn Two, the rain was falling.

Timing is everything in restrictor-plate racing. Soon after Kenseth seized the lead, Aric Almirola spun into the infield, causing the caution flag to wave. Minutes later, as rain continued to pelt the 2.5-mile tri-oval, NASCAR ordered the cars onto pit road, where Kenseth was eventually declared the winner of the 51st running of the Daytona 500, which this year was actually 380 miles long.

It's true that Kenseth didn't have the fastest car in the field -- that distinction belonged to Kyle Busch, who led a race-high 120 laps -- but Kenseth did something that Busch couldn't: He avoided the Big One. Late on Sunday night I watched several replays of how Kenseth worked his way through the 10-car crash midway through the race. If you're a stock car fan, it was a sight to behold: He deftly avoided a spinning Brian Vickers by no more than a foot, cutting sharply to his left to a nanosecond before Vickers would have made a mess of Kenseth's No. 17 Ford. In retrospect, this was what really won the race for Kenseth. The Big One knocked out several of the top contenders, and by escaping it cleanly, Kenseth was able to win the battle of attrition that Daytona always ends being.

2. Kyle Busch's bad racing luck continued.

No driver was more snake-bitten during the Chase last season than Busch. He had fluky mechanical problems and he got caught in wrecks that he didn't start. Well, his bad mojo has carried over into 2009.

For the second straight year, Busch led the most laps at Daytona. But just as it appeared that he would cruise to victory, Dale Earnhardt Jr. nudged the rear of Brian Vickers' Toyota. This sent Vickers spinning up the track -- and directly into Busch, who then slammed violently into the wall. In an eye blink, it was all gone for Busch: the chance to win his first 500, the chance to deliver Toyota its first victory in the Great American race, and the chance to start his season on a high note.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a rough Daytona 500.

For a few moments early in the race, it looked like this was going to be Little E's night. He charged up through the field as if he had an extra gear of speed, passing cars on the low and high lines. But then, during a caution, Little E missed his pit box. Drove right by it. He later claimed he couldn't distinguish his No. 88 sign that hung over his pit stall from the other signs along pit road -- most of them were in pink numbers -- but this flub costs him valuable track position.

The mistakes continued. During another pit stop he parked just inches outside of his pit stall. When his team started working on his car, a NASCAR official flagged Earnhardt for this violation, assessing a lap penalty. Then, on lap 88, as Junior battled to get his lap back, he dove low along the backstretch to pass Brian Vickers, who was also a lap down. Vickers tried to block and the two collided, igniting the wreck that was the turning point of the race.

There was much speculation in the garage afterward that Junior was at the fault and was the instigator of the crash. I completely disagree. Earnhardt had a run on Vickers and established his position when Vickers went to block, forcing Earnhardt below the yellow line and nearly off the track. From where I sat, this was simply one of those "racing deals," -- as they say in the garage -- in which neither driver was fully culpable. NASCAR officials agreed, as no penalties were issued.

Still, this wasn't how Little E envisioned his Daytona 500 unfolding. This is one of his best tracks on the circuit, and he certainly had a car capable of winning. If he's going to seriously contend for the championship this season, he simply has to eliminate the mental errors. After all, when was the last time you saw Jimmie Johnson make two miscues on pit road in one race? You haven't, because Johnson has never done that.

4. The surprise of Speedweeks was Wood Brothers Racing.

The oldest team in NASCAR, the Wood Brothers first started racing in 1950. They've 96 won races over the years, but heading into Daytona, they were in desperate straits. The single-car team reduced its staff by about a third this offseason and they only have funding for 12 races this season. But just when it looked like this team was sliding toward irrelevancy, the Wood Brothers came alive in Daytona.

The team's driver, Bill Elliott, topped the speed charts in back-to-back practices before qualifying. He then laid down the fifth-fastest qualifying lap. And on Sunday the 53-year-old Elliott showed his veteran savvy, avoiding wrecks and finishing a respectable 23rd. To read more about the Wood Brothers and what it could it mean to NASCAR to have an under-funded team run well this season, check out my story in the magazine this week.

5. This year's 500 wasn't the thriller that NASCAR needed.

Here's a statistic that tells you a lot about the state of NASCAR's popularity right now: Since 2005 NASCAR's TV ratings have fallen 21 percent. What's the best way to lure the eyeballs of casual fans back to NASCAR? By offering compelling races, full of drama -- both on and off the track -- and heart pumping finishes.

Well, none of that happened on Sunday. Matt Kenseth winning his first 500 and snapping his 36-race winless streak is a nice story, but learning that you've been named the victor while sitting in your car on pit road hardly qualifies as great racing theatre. Granted, this isn't NASCAR's fault, but whenever races are called because of rain, it leaves everyone -- except the winner, naturally -- feeling a little cheated. It's too bad the sport's biggest race of the season had to end this way. Frankly, I think NASCAR called the race to quick. When I left Daytona media center at just after 1 a.m., the rain had been stopped for hours. What's more, the track sure looked dry to me.