The Daytona 500 had already rained out for the first-time ever. NASCAR moved the race to Monday in prime-time for the first time ever and it got plenty of attention, for the wrong reasons.
During the 53rd-running of ‘The Great American Race’, Jimmie Johnson wrecked on lap two, in an accident involving Danica Patrick. Later, with 40 laps to go on a yellow flag, something broke on the car of Juan Pablo Montoya. Heading into turn three, he lost control and slammed into a jet-dryer truck causing a huge fire.
The truck pulls a 200-gallon gas tank plus the truck itself had an extra-large tank. After the big accident, gas began running out and found sparks. The rest is history. (Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured)
Best part about the whole mess? Brad Keselowski tweeting live from his car during the red flag. In the time from red flag to green flag, he gained approximately 119,000 followers, up 270%.
Fire!My view twitter.com/keselowski/sta…
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) February 28, 2012
And my tweet on Keselowski’s twitter growth made the FOX broadcast, without attribution.
Matt Kenseth won the race, under a green-white checkered flag. It was his 2nd win at Daytona (2009, 2012). 37 hours later…finally!