After almost three months of preparation, planning, and fine tuning, the first race of the season arrived on Febuary 13. 25 drivers. 75 laps. No points, no pressure, just good old fashioned racing.

The starting lineup for the Sprint Unlimited was decided by a random drawing, and Jimmie Johnson won the drawing and took the green flag in first place. However, Brad Keslowski quickly took the lead.

For several laps, drivers sorted themselves out, determining where they wanted to run, which lane was fastest, etc. A couple drivers dropped to the back of the pack, in an attempt  to avoid being caught in a wreck.

Ironically, the first wreck of the night happened at the back of the pack. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running well behind the leaders, when his left rear tire blew and sent him spinning into the number 11 car of Denny Hamlin. Both drivers sustained minimal damage and were able to continue.

The race was scheduled to have a caution at lap 25, but just before that point, the evening’s first major incident occurred. Brian Vickers, substituting for the injured Tony Stewart, blew a a tire while running near the front of the pack. He spun, slammed into teammate Kevin Harvick, then rammed the wall like a battering ram. Cars scattered in an attempt to avoid taking damage, but several other drivers were damaged some way or another.

The wreck took place only a lap or two before the normal caution time, so Nascar simply let the wreck be the planned caution. After a short period of time, the race resumed.

Over the course of the race, many drivers took turns leading the race, strategy began to come into play as time passed. Denny Hamlin, who was involved in the wreck with Ricky Stenhouse, used a fuel milage gamble to gain the lead after the mandatory lap 25 caution. Hamlin had a fast car, but he was going to have to save 10 miles worth of fuel, and not lose the lead, if he wanted a chance to win the race. Pretty tough order.

After the mandatory caution, 50 laps remained in the race. For a time, the drivers seemed to have settled into a rhythm. Until Jimmie Johnson and his close friend Casey Mears collided on the backstretch. The two were bump drafting, trying to get past the leaders, when both lost control of their cars. Mears turned up the track, but miraculously regained the handle on his car. Johnson, on the other hand, spun into the infield grass, and ripped off the nose of his no. 48. Crazy as it is, no one else was involved in the wreck.

After that accident, the drivers began to drive like mad to get to the front of the pack. As the lap count began to wind down, drivers began to try more daring moves. More dangerous to, as Carl Edwards discovered. In the final laps, Carl got a major run on Brad Keslowski, one of the pack leaders. He blew past Brad and tried to move up the track and block him. However, as many have found out before him, you need to be sure that you are all the way past your opponent before you block him. Brad clipped the bumper of Edwards’ no. 19 and sent him into the outside wall. Cars stacked up behind them, bumping and banging. By the time the smoke cleared, only 2 or 3 cars were left in the field that didn’t have any damage.

The race was now in overtime, and Denny Hamlin, damaged car and all, was still in the lead. Joey Logano was second, and there were about six other cars left that still seemed capable of winning.

Nascar rules state that in restrictor-plate races, only one attempt may be made at the green-white-checkered finish. However, that’s as long as the drivers make half-way through the restart lap without wrecking. Otherwise the drivers will start all over again, and again, until they get the restart right.

Hamlin took the green flag, and him and Logano lunged ahead, side by side, driving full force forward. The pack made it through the first half a lap, so the race was officially in it’s final 1 and a half laps. Denny and Joey had spaced themselves from the third place driver Kyle Larson on the restart, but as the draft began to pull The two leaders back in, Larson had to decide which driver to assist. He chose Logano, but just as he did so, Paul Menard pulled to the inside lane and gave Hamlin a push. The two leaders took the white flag side by side, Hamlin inches ahead. The Menard went low on the track, an Hamlin dove down low to block him.

Suddenly, as the drivers entered turns one and two, several drivers collided. However, they were at the back of the pack, and the wreck was no where near the leaders. However, enough debris was on the track that Nascar had to throw the caution. Denny Hamlin was ahead of Logano when the caution waved, so he was declared the winner. After all the trouble he had to battle through, from the damage from the early wreck, to the fact that this was his first race with new crew chief Mike Wheeler, I’d say he earned the win.