2011 Daytona 500 favorite Kevin Harvick blew out his engine on turn 2 of Lap 24 and is finished for the day. Harvick had briefly led the race but he won’t get a chance to build on that. Harvick was the betting favorite of the race and is one of the top favorites to win the 2011 Sprint Cup Series title. He’ll get a point or two based on this performance, which leaves him in a bit of a hole right out of the gate.
A few laps later, there was a sizable crash resulting in the fourth caution flag of the day. There was a small pack of drivers racing tightly and a couple nudges resulted in five or six cars rolling around the infield of the track. The wreck began when Michael Waltrip bumped David Reutimann. The accident involved the following cars: 17, 87, 43, 38, 71, 5, 83, 00, 48, 16, 9, 24.
Bay Area-native racers Jeff Gordon and A.J. Allmendinger both were involved. Gordon has gone to the garage along with a good five or six cars and is apparently in need of some serious repairs. Allmendinger appears to still be going in the race and sitting around 24th place right now.