Spoiler Alert: Daytona 500 winner makes history

When you save your 2011 Daytona 500 viewing experience for a later date, you should go ahead and skip this post all together.

Still with us? This year marks the 53 Paved over the biggest race in NASCAR, and thanks to a completely new track, the event saw a record market share of 74 lead changes among 22 drivers. The new sticky asphalt also led to a lot of side-by-side race with more than a few pile ups as a result. But all this carnage was to open the door to a very unlikely winner.

Wood Brothers Racing took home the checkered flag for the first time since 1976 with 20 years old Knoxville, Tennessee native Trevor Bayne behind the wheel. Never heard of him? We are not surprised. The Daytona 500 marked only to start his second Sprint Cup Series. Bayne led in the last six rounds and successfully fought off a last minute rush by Carl Edwards to take home the $ 1,460,000 purse and become the youngest winner of the Daytona 500 While Bayne was only scheduled to run five races with Wood Brothers this year, could change this victory only to his schedule.

NASCAR marks 10-year anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death at Daytona 500

It was 10 years ago today announced that racing legend Dale Earnhardt Senior died while competing at the Daytona 500. It is no secret that not every motor sport is a fan of the NASCAR scene afficianado, but there is no denying the absolute ability and presence, the racers to bring the game both on and off the track. Nowhere was this more evident than with Earnhardt, who jumped from a long line of circle track racers. Even though series fans rooted for another driver, Earnhardt they respected his down-to-earth nature and old-school approach to racing. When Earnhardt was behind the wheel, it was clear he was not there to make friends or play nice. He was there to win.

While Earnhardt's death was a tragedy on many levels, we can not help but feel that NASCAR lost more than a symbol, when he passed. The current area is too polished by nameless media machines, the heart and the human emotions that inhabited the old-timers brought to the table deficiency. Maybe this is the reason why we can not simply bring us the front of the television flop for 500 laps more.