Today at 1:00 p.m. ET one of NASCAR's premier events, the Daytona 500, will get underway on Fox from Daytona International Speedway. Fans of the high-speed action can live stream the race for free by clicking this link.
Leading up to today's race, much of the attention was focused on Danica Patrick. She was criticized by Richard Petty, a NASCAR legend and the sport's all-time wins leader. Petty said the only way Patrick could win was if "everybody stayed home."
He added, "If she'd have been a male, nobody would ever know if she'd showed up at a racetrack. ... This is a female deal that's driving her. There's nothing wrong with that, because that's good PR for me. More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport."
He was derided as sexist, and Patrick chose the high road, but Petty recently drummed up the controversy one more time by saying he'd be willing to race her. "I'm 76 years old, OK?" Petty said. "It's been 25 years since I've been in a race car. But I'll take that challenge."
Beyond Patrick and Petty, there are other storylines to keep track of. Tony Stewart is back on the track after breaking his leg last season in a January race. "All I did was break my leg," Stewart said, clearly tiring of all the questions. "I didn't break my spirit; it didn't break my mind or my thoughts. It just broke my leg. No different than a lot of other people that have an injury."
Also, a fresh face will begin the race in first. Despite NASCAR luminaries such as Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson all being in the field, rookie Austin Dillon snagged pole position earlier in the week.
Dillon took it easy in the Budweiser duels after running in front for most of it, preferring to save the car he's confident in for the big boy race today.
"I wanted to know that we had something I can move around with in the race,'' Dillon said. "And now we get to have some fun. Man, that car is super-fast. I think we could get to the draft from anywhere we wanted to.''
STARTING GRID:
1.Austin Dillon
2.Martin Truex Jr.
3.Matt Kenseth
4.Denny Hamlin
5.Kasey Kahne
6.Jeff Gordon
7.Marcos Ambrose
8.Kurt Busch
9.Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10. Paul Menard
11. Josh Wise
12. Brian Scott
13. Aric Almirola
14. Trevor Bayne
15. AJ Allmendinger
16. Kyle Larson
17. David Gilliland
18. Landon Cassill
19. Ryan Newman
20. Clint Bowyer
21. Tony Stewart
22. Jamie McMurray
23. Cole Whitt
24. Terry Labonte
25. Greg Biffle
26. Bobby Labonte
27. Danica Patrick
28. Casey Mears
29. Alex Bowman
30. Carl Edwards
31. Brian Vickers
32. Jimmie Johnson
33. Brad Keselowski
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
35. Joey Logano
36. Michael Annett
37. Kyle Busch
38. Kevin Harvick
39. Reed Sorenson
40. Justin Allgaier
41. Parker Kligerman
42. Michael Waltrip
43. David Ragan
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