NASCAR Cup Series

Phoenix International Raceway is excited to announce that world-renowned recording artist Brian McKnight will sing the national anthem prior to the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 ™, Sunday, March 4. McKnight and his sons, Brian Jr. and Niko, will launch Phoenix’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season with the same soulful sounds that have been a McKnight trademark for two decades.

Richard Childress Racing teammates finished fifth (Jeff Burton), sixth (Paul Menard), seventh (Kevin Harvick) and 27th (Elliott Sadler) in the 2012 Daytona 500. Burton led two times for a total of 24 laps and spent 199 of the 202 laps in the top 15 (98.5 percent).

Roush Fenway Racing officially kicked off it’s 25th Anniversary season in grand fashion on Monday night, with Matt Kenseth holding off teammate Greg Biffle as the organization claimed its historic 300th NASCAR victory with its second Daytona 500 victory in the first ever night-time running of the famed event at Daytona International Speedway.

MATT KENSETH, No. 17 Best Buy Ford Fusion – LET’S START WITH THAT FINISH AND WHAT YOU DID TO HOLD THEM OFF. “I have to give a lot of credit to Doug Yates and the guys at the engine shop. We had great horsepower."

After rain postponed the start of the 54th running of the Daytona 500 by more than 24 hours for the first time in history, a freak accident caused a massive fuel fire that stopped the race for two hours as safety workers used various forms of equipment including laundry detergent to clean up and repair the track.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET – Sidelined in multi-car crash on lap 2 - LOOKED LIKE A HARD HIT. FIRST ARE YOU OK? WHAT HAPPENED? "Yes, I'm ok. That side hit was hard. We were all just trying to make our lane work. A lot of energy in the lane."

Denny Hamlin (fourth) was the highest finishing Toyota driver in Monday's rain-postponed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race Daytona International Speedway. Hamlin led a race-high 57 (of 202) laps at the 2.5-mile Florida superspeedway.

DAVID RAGAN – No. 34 Scorpion Liners Ford Fusion – WHAT HAPPENED? “It is disappointing. I was just trying to see the monitor to see who I can be mad at. It is ridiculous to sit around this long for the Daytona 500 and on the very first lap for someone to be driving as reckless as whoever caused that, someone had to cause it."