NASCAR Cup Series

Denny Hamlin (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) rain-delayed Daytona 500.

After an almost six-and-a-half hour rain delay, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sealed the deal with a popular win of the 2014 Daytona 500. After finishing second in three of the last four Daytona 500 races, the driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS fielded by Hendrick Motorsports captured his second career victory in the Great American Race by leading six times for a total of 54 laps. His first Daytona 500 win came in 2004.

Emotions ran high at the end of the 56th Annual Daytona 500 as Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his first victory in the Great American race since 2004. It had been a long ten years since he last won in 2004. The years were filled with plenty of close finishes including three runner-ups, but Earnhardt Jr. could never close the deal.

"“I don’t know. I was going to the top with Kurt. We were trying to do something. We were a lap down. We had a mistake in the pits that got us a lap down, but what a shame. This Smithfield Ford was so fast. We had a really good strategy. We were in the top five racing for the lead and came down pit road and had a mistake."

“I thought we were really strong in the middle all night with our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford and we’d work our way from the back to the front time and time again. There at the end we were running the middle with the 24 and the 11 and felt really strong and all of a sudden the 40 shoved it four-wide down into turn one and really squeezed everybody.

"“I don’t know. I was going to the top with Kurt. We were trying to do something. We were a lap down. We had a mistake in the pits that got us a lap down, but what a shame. This Smithfield Ford was so fast. We had a really good strategy. We were in the top five racing for the lead and came down pit road and had a mistake."

On lap 39 at 2:13 p.m. EST, the 56th annual Daytona 500 was red-flagged as light rain fell from the sky.

A broken oil pump belt, resulting in an engine failure cut short Martin Truex Jr.’s day in Sunday’s Daytona 500, the opening race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Two of the greatest drivers in American motorsports history – A.J. Foyt and Tony Stewart – will appear together at the Budweiser ROLL-BAR Club at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday, March 1 prior to the Blue Jeans Go GreenTM 200, Presented by Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives® NASCAR Nationwide Series race. They will take the stage at 11:00 a.m. MST for a moderated question-and-answer session.

A total of 22 Team Chevy drivers will start the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Daytona International Speedway, the opening round of the 2014 season.