Winning the Daytona 500 in NASCAR is as big as it gets in the sport. It’s a lifelong dream for racers and an extremely fulfilling accomplishment. This feeling could not have been more evident than after Jamie McMurray won the race Sunday, holding off a charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. to take the checkered flag. McMurray was actually saddened after the race when he found out his wife and father were no longer present because they did not sit through the entire race (it lasted six hours because of a two hour delay to fix a pothole in the track). McMurray was so overwhelmed by his win that he wound up crying after the race. Here’s the video:
It looked like McMurray’s wife did make it back to the track to celebrate his win so we can only hope his father made it back too. Jamie did an excellent job blocking Junior down the stretch to wind up in victory lane so he definitely earned it. For a guy who was almost out of a job last year, this was quite the way to start off the new racing season and after seeing that video, it’s hard not to root for the guy. Congrats to McMurray on the victory.
