Danica makes her Sprint Cup debut, and it's finally over.

After being postponed twice, the Daytona 500 had finally started under the lights at 7pm EST. Unbelievably, after just the first lap, Jimmie Johnson gets pushed into the wall and collects 6-7 cars. One of those cars happened to be Danica's...dammit. Not her fault, or even Jimmie Johnson's. After watching the replay, I blame Elliot Sadler on that one.

Danica trying to dodge Jimmie Johnson's wrecked car to no avail.

Danica then goes back out during lap 70 of the race. The Baldwin Racing and Stewart-Hass Racing teams worked feverishly in the garage to get Danica's #10 Chevy Impala back in the race. I know Danica is one "pissed-off chick" if she refused to get out of the car while the teams were working on it. It was definitely over an hour sitting in that car while everybody was scrambling around trying to fix the complete rear end of that race car. After hearing her thank the team for getting her back out there despite being down 62 laps, you can hear the disappointment in her voice since she was quite confident she would do well for this Daytona 500. It's been a pretty rough weekend for her, and even rougher "debut" in Sprint Cup. Danica eventually finished 38th overall down 64 laps.

Yes, I am Danica's biggest fan. And, yes, I was a NASCAR fan way before Danica even showed interest in stock cars. But as a longtime fan of racing, this Daytona 500 was one of the most bizarre I've ever watched. There were stretches of monotony as drivers were trying to keep their cars from overheating for the end. Then it started to get interesting halfway through since there was a $200,000 prize for the leader after lap 100. And again, monotony for 30 laps. Then word got to drivers that a storm was coming and they started getting racy again. Then the unthinkable happened...during a caution with 40 laps to go, Juan Pablo Montoya was getting back on track after pitting and all of a sudden his car loses control and slams into one of the jet dryer vehicles. A huge fire breaks out at turn 3 due to all of the jet fuel the dryer vehicle was carrying. The race was then red flagged. Fortunately, JPM and the driver of the jet dryer truck walked away.

Jet dryer vehicle on fire at lap 3.

This Daytona 500 was all about "WAITING". We had to WAIT for the rain to pass to start the race. Danica had to WAIT for over an hour for her car to be repaired after only 1.5 laps. We had to WAIT for almost 2 hours for fire damage to the track to be fixed with 40 laps to go. There is even footage of Danica taking what looks to be a bathroom break, Carl Edwards greeting fans, and Brad Keselowski tweeting during this WAIT. They went back to green with 34 laps to go and Matt Kenseth held back a charging Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to finally win the 54th Daytona 500. It took a 31 hour delay and 6 hours after the start to complete this race.

BTW -- I am quite impressed with Clint Bowyer's karaoke skills.

Daytona 500 postponed.

The Daytona 500 has been postponed for the first time in its 54-year history. It's scheduled for tomorrow at Noon (EST) / 9am (PST). Should be an interesting work day...

Danica finishes 38th for the Drive4COPD 300 at Daytona.

After starting at Pole and having a really decent showing for the first 1/4 of the race, Danica gets wrecked by her own teammate, Cole Whitt, going into turn 3 around lap 52. What can you say...rookie mistake. Danica looked real strong during the beginning of the race with team owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. pushing her around the track at the beginning. Then she started falling back toward the middle of the pack during laps 30-40. Then during laps 50-52, Danica gets pushed by Whitt way too early in turn 3 and she loses control of the car and slams into the wall. JR Motorsports manages to get her back on the track being down 48 laps. Danica finished 38th, Dale Jr. finshed 15th, and Cole Whitt finished 7th to round out all of the JR Motorsports drivers. Just want to say, "Thanks, Cole!" and James Buescher still sucks.

Danica gets pushed out of control by Cole Whitt

ESPN Feature: Danica's New Attitude

People always ask me, "Why Danica?". Watch this video and you will understand why.

Danica's New Attitude

Hell of a Speedweek for Danica, huh?

Danica was all over the news last night for what looked like one of the most scary crashes ever at Daytona during the first Gatorade Duel race's final lap. Below is video footage of the final laps of the Duel, and her answering questions about the crash during a press conference this morning.

Gatorade Duel 1 Final Laps
Danica sounding off about the crash.

The irony of it is that as relieved as I was to see Danica was OK, I told my friend crashes like this tend to become omens of having a great race after. Apparently, it wasn't too far from the truth. This morning/afternoon, Danica becomes the second woman in NASCAR history to get Pole Position for a Nationwide Series Race. The first being Shawna Robinson at Atlanta on March 12, 1994. I am most certainly proud of her, and would like to send a congrats out to Tony Eury Jr. and JR Motorsports for some incredible work during the off-season.

Danica wins Pole Position for the inaugural NNS race at Daytona.

And thus, it begins.

Danica getting interviewed at the 13th Annual Media Dey at Daytona.

The 2012 NASCAR season has officially begun this past weekend and with it, DanicaMania is on full throttle!  Danica will be running 10 Sprint Cup races for Stewart-Haas Racing and the full Nationwide Series schedule this year for JR Motorsports. Which despite the past two years running in a handful of NASCAR races, it's still very "different" for me as DanicaFanBoy to not see her in an Indycar. Danica is guaranteed a spot in this year's Daytona 500 due to some crazy NASCAR math and ran her first qualifying laps this morning. Below is video of the qualifying run.

2012 Daytona 500 Qualifying Video