2010 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 36 in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
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| Date | February 14, 2010 | ||
| Location |
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. |
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| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km) |
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| Distance | 208 laps, 520 mi (836.858 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Cold with temperatures reaching up to 55 °F (13 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 137.284 miles per hour (220.937 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 47.074 | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Duel 2 Winner | Kasey Kahne | Richard Petty Motorsports | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 41 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 1 | Jamie McMurray | Earnhardt Ganassi Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 7.7/16 | ||
The 2010 Daytona 500 was the 52nd running of the event, and the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the 2010s decade. It kicked off the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on February 14 at the 2.5 mile (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Fox telecast the race while radio coverage was handled by Sirius XM Radio via satellite radio and over-the-air on MRN Radio in the USA. One change in this year's schedule found pole qualifying being held one day earlier, on February 6 because Super Bowl XLIV was held the following day.
The race started at 1:00 p.m. EST to comply with the new 1/3/7:30 rule for race starts during the new season. However, due to two long delays because of potholes in turns 1 and 2, the race finished in prime time under the lights on the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) track, the winner being Jamie McMurray in the #1 Impala.
There were no NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies in the race for the first time since the Raybestos Rookie of the Year program started, as Terry Cook, the only rookie candidate approved to run at Daytona, failed to qualify. The other rookie entering 2010, Kevin Conway, was not approved to run Daytona due to the lack of superspeedway experience. Three veteran drivers – Max Papis (second year), Michael McDowell (third year) and Brad Keselowski (second year) – were the only Daytona 500 rookies, all of whom had raced in a previous Coke Zero 400.
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