From the February, 2007 issue of Stock Car Insider

Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway Recap

The Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway saved the best action for last. Like a perfectly written script to a thriller, the last lap raised the heart rates of everyone who could witness Mark Martin in front going for his first ever win in the Daytona 500. With a world of chaos that included fiery crashed and cars flipped upside down breaking out behind them, Harvick and Martin emerged from the pack for an instant classic battle for the win.

While Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin had a story-book ending to their Daytona 500, other top drivers did not fair so well. In fact, only 2 other drivers who qualified for last year's Chase for the Championship finished inside the top 10. Heavy favorites Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart were taken out of the race long before the checkered flag dropped.

Stewart had a dominate car early and was considered the favorite to win. But misfortune struck when Kurt Busch nudged Stewart on lap 153 and sent Tony into the wall of turn 4 and out of the race.
Johnson's misfortune struck 21 laps later when Johnson lost control of his car exiting turn 2. One important fact to note is that Johnson's streak of 105 consecutive races of being ranked in the top 10 came to an end at Daytona where he finished in 39th place.

Former champion Matt Kenseth was poised to make a push for the win and capture the first Daytona 500 for Jack Roush. However, the wreck on the last lap wiped Kenseth out, and pushed Matt all the way down to a 27th place finish. The top Roush finisher was rookie David Reagan who capitalized on the misfortune of the wrecked cars in front of him to finish in 5th.

Fan favorites Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon ran out of luck at the end of the race as well. Both drivers wrecked on the last lap. However, Gordon had the better luck finishing in 12th place while Earnhardt finished in 32nd.

The top Toyota driver was Dale Jarrett who finished in 23rd. Team owner Michael Waltrip finished in 30th. Other Toyota drivers Dave Blaney and rookie David Reutimann finished 34th and 40th respectively.

See complete 2007 NASCAR Schedule