Sportsfrog.com

If it felt like the longest Daytona 500 in history, don’t worry, it was. 520 miles, to be exact.

Oh, you meant the red flags for the pothole? Yeah, those were 150 minutes.

But outside of the pothole–damn you Daytona asphalt!–that was an exceptional race, only ruined by that hole in the asphalt and some ridiculous commentating by the Fox television crew.

Jamie McMurray won, his second win in a row in which he may not be the main story. He won at Talladega in 2009 when the new (and inevitably temporary) bump drafting rules made for an awful race, and now here, where the pothole may bump him from the pedestal that he deserves. (McMurray could make a career of being the overlooked guy. Of the three “local” drivers in the KC metro area, McMurray is unheard of while all of the attention focuses around Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards)

OK, enough about the pothole. The racing during the 500 was fantastic. It produced the most different leaders in the history of the race (21) and the three attempts to finish the race with two laps to go were exceptionally dramatic. That third to last restart when Harvick, Truex and Biffle were playing bumper cars going into turn one for the lead? Yeah, that doesn’t get much better if you’re a hardcore NASCAR fan or one tuning in for the first time.

Thing is, you had to have been a hardcore fan to hang in for that long. 6.5 hours for a race telecast with no rain is insane.

But the telecast? Oh boy. There was Chris Myers’ bumbling sociological point that Danica Patrick could be an exemplary figure for a modern women’s empowerment movement, and Darrell Waltrip’s flat out cheering for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Junior charged from 10th to second on the final lap. (Hell yeah that was impressive. He was loose coming off of turn two.) The whole Fox telecast seemed disjointed after the last red flag. (Go here tomorrow for more.)

So yeah, screw you, pothole. You almost ruined an incredible race.

Of course, none of you do so it’s a moot point.

But anyway, today may be the biggest non-Daytona 500 day of racing in Daytona Speedweeks history.

Usually, pole day for the Daytona 500 is on Sunday, but the Super Bowl is obviously tomorrow, so instead it’s today. And per usual, the Budweiser Shootout unofficially kicks off the race season tonight with a 24 car, 75 lap exhibition race that may come down to which car can crash the least.

And for many, sandwiched between the two, is the main event. Danicamania.

Yes, today’s the day when Danica Patrick races in a stock car for the first time. She qualified 12th, and has one of the best cars in the field, but it’s an ARCA race. ARCA races at Daytona tend to turn into demolition derbies that seemingly involve blind drivers. There are moments when you can’t believe that a driver doesn’t slow down to avoid a wreck much further up the in field and then subsequently wonders why the heck he got caught up in the mess. (Last year, this happened late in the race, and led to a fractured back for one of ARCA’s best drivers)

However, Danica isn’t the only female driver in the field for the ARCA race. There are four others, but none of them have either the looks or the marketing prowess that Patrick does. (Though I guess you have to give Jennifer Jo Cobb some credit for trying. She’s taken advantage of the economic stimulus and gotten new hair, teeth and boobs)

How will Danica do? Well, I’m already on record as saying that she’s going to win today, so I’ll stick with it. Remember, this is ARCA. It ain’t rocket science. It’s crash avoidance.

Some of you will take issue with the word “playing.” Sorry, it’s a good headline.

Denny Hamlin, one of the top drivers in Sprint Cup, tore his ACL Friday playing pickup basketball.

And since the season unofficially starts in two weeks, Hamlin will have to wait until around Thanksgiving to have the surgery.

Yikes.

The injury was to Hamlin’s left knee, which is his braking leg, so the circumstances could be worse. The ACL primarily is involved in stabilization during knee flexion and Hamlin shouldn’t be extremely hampered because the angle of a driver’s knee doesn’t change much during the course of a race. Some modifications will probably have to be made, however, to the cockpit of Hamlin’s car to allow him more room to extend his leg.

But where Hamlin is going to feel it most is outside of the car. Getting around for seven months with a torn ACL has to be a chore.