Pre-Race

Country singer Keith Urban performed a concert on the infield singing "Days Go By", "Sweet Thing", and "Better Life". Urban tossed his guitar pick into the crowd at the end of his performance. The first episode of the miniseries "The Adventures of Digger and Friends" premiered during the FOX pre-race coverage; Keith Urban's "Little Digger," the theme song to "The Adventures of Digger and Friends," also premiered. However, from there on, Digger would draw much opposition, including sites, forums, and blogs warning FOX about his use.

The Grand Marshal was the Florida Governor Charlie Crist.^[3] RCA Records recording artist Gavin DeGraw sang the USA National Anthem, and actor Tom Cruise drove the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pace car to the start of the race.^[4][5]

Race

During the drivers' meeting, NASCAR announced there would be a competition caution on lap 25 because of overnight rain. Despite threatening weather, the race started at 3:30 pm, with the green flag at 3:41 pm, waved by three-time champion Bobby Allison as the "Martin and Martin" front row led the field to the start of the race. Martin Truex Jr. led the first lap and Mark Martin led the next one before being passed by Kyle Busch. The first caution came out on lap 9 when Aric Almirola got tapped from behind by David Ragan and spun near the entrance to pit road, nearly collecting Travis Kvapil. The race restarted on lap 11, with Busch still leading; Busch would remain there until lap 53 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed him for the lead. With the help of his Busch (his former teammate), Tony Stewart passed Earnhardt Jr. for the lead while entering turn 4. Shortly after, Travis Kvapil smacked the wall twice on lap 55, bringing out the third caution. Earnhardt Jr. missed his pit stall and lost a lap because he was forced to pit again. Tony Stewart came out of the pits with the lead, until being passed by Jeff Gordon on lap 70. On lap 72, Ryan Newman was in the pits changing tires under green flag conditions when somehow the car fell off the jack while changing the left-side tires. Newman's crew had to use two jacks to lift the car off the ground and complete the pit stop. On lap 80, Daytona 500 rookie Joey Logano avoided Scott Speed losing control out of turn 4 but made contact with the front of Greg Biffle's car, causing him to crash head-on into the inside retaining wall on the front stretch, ending his day. Busch won the race off pit road edging ahead of his teammate Denny Hamlin by over half a car length, while Hermie Sadler reported bad weather about 40 minutes away from the track.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 113 when Gordon over tire wear concerns, and his crew changed tires on lap 113, with the rest of the field on lap 119. David Stremme blew a tire on pit road as soon as his teammates Reed Sorenson and Elliott Sadler exited. Sadler wound up in 2nd and Sorenson in 3rd while the entire field had to pit one lap later. Earnhardt Jr. mistakingly made his second pit stop in Lap 121 by completing his pit stop with his right front tire over the outside boundary line of his pit box, resulting in a one-lap penalty.

On lap 124, the race for the beneficiary resulted in the "Big One". This began when Earnhardt Jr. spun Brian Vickers into traffic toward the end of the backstretch, collecting race dominator Busch and his brother Kurt, Robby Gordon, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, and Earnhardt Jr.'s teammate Jimmie Johnson. R. Gordon's car slid in front of Earnhardt Jr. within a couple of feet of contact. Many of Earnhardt Jr.'s fans, the Daytona 500 participants, and the drivers believed that the contact was done intentionally; and many fans (including those of the No. 88 fans) and drivers (such as Vickers, Ku. and Ky. Busch, R. Gordon, Hamlin, and McMurray gave NASCAR requests and calls to black-flag Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt was penalized on two counts by NASCAR; first, he was sent to the tail end of the longest line for overaggressive driving, and the ensuing penalty meant he was not granted the beneficiary as a result. (A driver cannot cause the caution to be granted the beneficiary.) Brian Vickers was angry and said when interviewed "To wreck somebody intentionally like that in front of the entire field is really kind of dangerous. That's my biggest problem with it. But, apparently, (Earnhardt Jr.) wanted a caution pretty bad." Both Vickers and Earnhardt Jr. were a lap down before the wreck occurred, and Earnhardt Jr. was unaware that he was battling Vickers for the position. At this time, Kevin Harvick pushed Matt Kenseth into a battle for first between Kenseth and Sadler. On lap 138, Jeff Burton smacked the wall, collecting Paul Menard. Burton was then black-flagged for having a piece of sheetmetal hanging from his bumper.

On lap 146, Matt Kenseth took the lead from Sadler a lap after the action resumed. Almirola was then spun by Kasey Kahne after Almirola made contact with Sam Hornish Jr. on the backstretch. At this time, rain began to fall on the track under the yellow. On lap 152, the cars came into pit road under the red flag. Some drivers exited their cars while others, including Kenseth, remained in theirs. During the red flag period, asked what happened with Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, "I got a run on him and he (Vickers) saw me coming. I had a big old run on him and I went to the inside. I didn't try to make any late move and make some kind of surprise or anything. I just kind of ease on over and he went to block me and hit me in the fender sending us both off, sent me down into the grass and I tried to recover my car. I got back into him coming back into the racetrack." When asked what happened was accidental, Earnhardt Jr. was unrepentant and said, "Yeah, it was accidental. I didn't want to wreck the field." Later that week, Earnhardt Jr. gave a public apology for the incident and decided that he should have thought before he made his move that obviously would have crashed Vickers.

At 6:49 pm. EST, sixteen minutes after the start of the red flag, NASCAR officials decided to call the race declaring Kenseth as the winner. "It's going to be really wet out here because I'm crying like a baby," said Kenseth moments after the race was called. "I tell you what, after last year, winning a race means a lot to me," Kenseth later said who was winless in 2008.^[6] Harvick, winner of the Bud Shootout, was second. Richard Petty Motorsports drivers A. J. Allmendinger (#44), Sadler (#19), and Reed Sorenson (#43) finished 3rd, 5th, and 9th respectively. Michael Waltrip had the best finishing Toyota in the 7th. Stewart was 8th in his first race as a driver and team owner. Truex Jr. finished 11th, J. Gordon (Gatorade Duel No. 1 winner) finished 13th, Marcos Ambrose (in his first 500 starts) finished 17th, Johnson (the defending Series champion) finished 31st, Speed (the high-finishing rookie) finished 35th, Ryan Newman (the defending 500 winners) finished 36th, Ky. Busch (who led the most laps at 88 and won Gatorade Duel #2) finished 41st because of him being involved in the lap 124 multi-car crash, and Logano (also in his first Daytona 500 start also) finished 43rd.

Starting lineup

* – NASCAR rules state that if a car, engine, or transmission change is made by the team, that car starts the race in the back of the field. For the Daytona 500, the rule applies to a car if a crash takes place in the Gatorade Duel or in the Friday or Saturday practice. An engine or transmission change is permitted after the Gatorade Duel, so the engine and transmission used in Friday practice must be used in Saturday practice and the race. The penalty for an engine or transmission change applies only if a second engine change is made after the Gatorade Duel once Friday practice begins.

Race results