Mystery Driver Wins Wild 2015 Daytona 500

Racin’ with Russ -

The 2015 running of the Daytona 500 started like many others, that being rows of two by two and 43 strong, but the ending will go down in history as one of the wildest.

The latest rule changes saw Mustangs, Camaros, funky Toyota Camrys, Dodge Challengers and the newest Volkswagen Passats all decked out in competition colors.

Veteran racer Carl Edwards led the field to the stripe behind pace car driver Mark Martin with Joey Logano and Austin Dillon not far behind.

For the first 50 laps, the pack ran nose-to-tail in groups of two and three a breast. In what would be his final 500 race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. started deep in the pack utilizing a one-time NASCAR special exemption pass to enter the race with a GTP version of Chevy’s latest design, a specially equipped race car with a 2,000 hp V-10 engine in order to give Jr a shot at winning one more time.

Despite the extra 1,200 horsepower, Jr. hung around mid-pack for much of of the race, while his nephew Jeffrey ran among the top 10 with a two-year old car sponsored by Big Nuts Ice Cream.

Kyle Busch ran strong in his Volkswagen Passat sponsored by Jeff’s Rat Poison and Idon’tgiveacrap.com, but found the wall right at the half after making a desperate move up the middle of a four-wide situation.

"I really thought I could squeeze through there," said a disappointed Busch. "Maybe I need to go back to driving a cab in Las Vegas on the strip!"

Jimmie Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon started well enough, but faded by mid-race, both complaining of back pain and fatigue, obviously the result of old age coming into play.

Trevor Bayne led much of the first half, leading a trio of Fords piloted by Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards.

New pit stop rules of having to get out of the car while refueling slowed things down from what used to be 12 to 13 second pit stops, to a snails pace minute and a half. Tony Stewart had the biggest issue with this situation by having problems slipping that Burger King belly in and out of the driver's window.

At the crossed flags, Bayne maintained the lead with Biffle, Edwards and now the newest member of the Hendrick clan, Chase Elliott applying pressure to the leaders.

30 laps later, the inevitable occurred as the first of two "big ones" started with Robby Gordon getting into Michael Waltrip, obviously a payback from a decade ago when the two got into it in New Hampshire.

Gordon got out of the car yelling and screaming at Waltrip that he was the biggest non-racing driver on the planet. The tall aging driver said, “I’m sorry, I dropped my ipad while reading my latest book!”

Others involved in the wreck included Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Marco Andretti and four other good cars.

Once underway, Bayne got snookered by Biffle and Edwards as they both zoomed by for the lead. Justin Allgaier and Scott Speed ran nose-to-tail in their VW Passats and appeared to be well on their way to the front until Danica Patrick lost control right in front of the dynamic duo, sending both VW’s hard into the fence and out of the show, while Danica’s Chevy went behind the wall for repairs.

Back up to speed with 22 cars remaining, Kurt Busch and teammate Brad Keselowski started to apply pressure to the top five runners.

As the laps wound down, Biffle and Edwards swapped the top spot with Dillon and Elliott large in their mirrors.

Then, it happened.

As Patrick returned to the track with what was left of her GoMomma.com Chevy, she missed a shift, setting off a huge wreck just before the finish line.

Biffle and Edwards got into each other similar to Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison on the final lap of the 1979 Daytona 500, tank slapping each other for quite a distance while the rest of the pack was left with no where to go but into each other, the outside wall and catch fence.

Cars crashed, tumbled and climbed on top of each other as Bayne wound up in the fence with Chase Elliott completing a single barrel roll, leaving Kevin Harvick no outlet but to wreck among nine other cars.

Amidst the smoke and flames, the pile of cars ground to a halt just past the finish line by inches with no apparent winner until officials arrived at the site and allowed the smoke to clear away.

While there was a huge amount of bent cars, parts and pieces scattered all over the racetrack, all of the drivers appeared to be moving around in their cars, but still no apparent winner.

Five large wreckers came on to the scene to pull cars off each other and determine a winner. The cars are so bent up, there are few numbers visible.

The crowd was tense with anticipation with a huge onslaught of race fans pressed up against the catch fencing as the cars were pulled off each other one at a time. First it was Edwards' car, then Biffle, somehow Jimmie Johnson’s Chevy was in the mix….but wait, it looks like a Toyota…the car is on the driver’s side and the driver is waving his arms through the passenger window opening.

The officials had to look at the tapes, take measurements and determine whoever is piloting this one blue Toyota is the winner. The track crew helps the driver out and it’s a tall lanky driver waving his arms he’s ok, much to the fans approval and it’s none other than…..Travis Pastrana in his very first 500-mile Cup race.

“That was rad,” exclaimed the ex-motocross champion. “Let’s do it again!”