NASCAR Nationwide Race Fails to Live Up to Hype with Daytona Debacle

The first race of the season for NASCAR's second-tier series had all the makings for a great finale if you followed the pre-race hype. What we saw was a crashfest that took out those who could have won.

Danica Patrick was the hot topic with it being her first full-time Nationwide season and she snatched the pole for the DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona.

Patrick ended up going for a spin and a crash that sent her to the garage after her teammate, Cole Whitt, gave her a shot from the rear at exactly the wrong time.

She did make it back on the track and was scored with a 38th-place finish after lengthy repairs in the garage.

Tony Stewart was going for his seventh win at Daytona to tie Dale Earnhardt's record for Nationwide wins in the first race of the season at Daytona.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the pride of Junior Nation, was of course expected to win. After all, his name is Earnhardt.

It pulled at one's heartstrings to see Earnhardt leading the race as he was pushed by the black No. 3 of Austin Dillon. What a tear-jerker finish that would have been.

Earnhardt did lead laps and appeared to have a strong shot at winning, but he, like most everyone else in the field, sustained damage in one of the masses of mangled cars.

The race was exciting with a blend of tandem racing and pack racing. Drivers found on several occasions that running three wide and six deep on the tri-oval doesn't work well.

Kurt Busch ran up front much of the race in his Phoenix Racing Chevrolet. Late in the race, after suffering his own trials and tribulations, Kyle Busch was pushing his brother to the lead.

On the final lap, the elder Busch brother was leading, but Joey Logano was coming fast with a push from Trevor Bayne on the high side.

Stewart was making his move to the front as well and it was anybody's call as to who would take the checkered flag.

Busch decided to side draft Logano to prevent the outside lane from overtaking the lead and it didn't work too well. The entire lead pack crashed.

James Buescher just happened to be in the right place at the right time and crossed the finish line under caution. As happens often on superspeedways, one more unlikely, first-time winner gets the win.

Brad Keselowski finished second followed by Elliott Sadler, Cole Whitt and Austin Dillon.

The Busch that just wants to have fun, climbed from what was left of his No. 51 and didn't appear to be too jovial. Stewart had somewhat the same look on his face as he exited the remains of the Oreo car.

Another Daytona race is in the history books and all the hype was for naught. It was a good day for Buescher as the contenders for the win watched him clear the debris field they were part of.

Daytona is known for unexpected finishes and the 2012 DRIVE4COPD 300 was proof positive of that.