2013 Daytona 500: First Impressions

1. Exhale.

2. Everyone seemed to be on their best behavior. Jimmie Johnson was in the right place at the right time.

3. I really thought Mark Martin was going to sneak up and win it.

4. Danica Patrick stayed up front all day and ran a clean race.

5. Waiting to make a move on the last lap proved not to work again.

6. Great runs by Regan Smith, Michael McDowell and J.J Yeley. Somebody always gets a surprise top 10 in the Daytona 500.

7. Great job by Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing getting fourth place finish after their accident early.

8. Bad day for Toyota. Had three contenders knockout in the final quarter of the race due to mechanical problems.

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another second place finish. Can he turn this into a consistent season up front?

10. I think we will truly see how the new car races in the coming races. Restrictor plate races aren't a great litmus test for the car.

11. Overall, not a great race. I would like to see something to be done to prevent 375 miles of single file around the top racing.

12. Fox should look to improve the broadcast crew. Mike Joy is great. Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip are both knowledgeable but cars running single-file around the top of the track is not their specialty for commentary. Jeff Hammond is expendable. The pit road team is good. I'd rather they bring Dick Berggren back and put him in for Chris Myers. This broadcast team has been together since the beginning of Fox's NASCAR coverage in 2001. It's been 12 years. They have had a great run. But some new blood should be considered.