MANKATO , MINN. -
Today was the 55th running of the Daytona 500.
The Great American Race is the Super Bowl of auto racing and there was a lot more hype than usual. NASCAR has made changes to their new "Generation Six" cars that make them look a lot more similar to their road–going counterparts.
"They look good, hope it's a whole new ball game, it's going to be a long year obviously, hopefully they'll get things figured out" says race fan Bill Herr.
But the most newsworthy part of the 500 was Danica Patrick. The first woman to get the pole, she has caused quite a stir.
"I thought it was just great. Like I said, I think it's going to draw a lot of interest from fans that probably would not have been, you know, NASCAR fans" says race fan Larry Miner.
Jimmy Johnson would go on to win, Danica Patrick would finish eighth.
The 500 comes just a day after 33 fans were injured during the NASCAR Nationwide race, where the number 32 car of Kyle Larson was shredded in the catchfence in a last lap, multi–car crash.
Two fans were in critical condition when they left the track yesterday and have since improved to stable condition.
