NASCAR rookie Trevor Bayne turned 20-years old yesterday on February 19th.  Today he won the 2011 Daytona 500 in just his 2nd career Sprint Cup start and first ever at the Daytona 500.

Bayne came out with the lead after the last caution and went on to hold off veteran Carl Edwards for the remarkable win.

Bayne was so surprised he didn’t even know how to find Victory Lane after the race. He drove right past it before officials stopped him and pushed his car backwards towards the massive party.

Trevor is not even listed on the official NASCAR page that lists all of the Sprint Cup drivers. I am sure that will change immediately.

You can follow the Knoxville, Tennessee native on Twitter @tbayne21

View 2011 Daytona 500 Results Below

Few losses have had as much effect on their sport like that of Dale Earnhardt’s 10 years ago.  No NASCAR fan under the age of 18 doesn’t remember his story, his life and the way he raced: balls out.  He was, and still is, an icon.  CNN reports:

In third place of the 2001 Daytona 500, shielding the two cars ahead of him — both owned by him, and one driven by his namesake son — Earnhardt yielded not an inch of asphalt. Sterling Marlin bumped him ever so slightly from the rear, and in the ensuing chain reaction of bumper cars at 160 mph, Earnhardt’s famous black No. 3 Chevy was sent up the track and nose-first into the wall.

The sport had seen a thousand worse-looking wrecks in which everyone walked away angry but unmarked. Something was bad wrong with this one, though. Witnesses knew it immediately after the driver was lifted from the wreckage and rushed to the hospital, when workers draped a tarp over Earnhardt’s car like cops covering a body at a crime scene.

Two hours later, NASCAR President Mike Helton faced the world and announced, “We’ve lost Dale Earnhardt.”

“Dale Earnhardt was to NASCAR what Elvis Presley was to rock-and-roll,” said Larry McReynolds, Earnhardt’s crew chief when he won his only Daytona 500 in 1998, and currently a racing broadcaster with Fox.

“When Elvis passed, rock-and-roll didn’t stop, but it was different. After Dale died, racing didn’t stop. We trudged on to Rockingham five days later. But it was different. It’s still different today.”

The article goes on to point out that a lot has changed for NASCAR since Earnhardt’s death.  The development of more effective safety restraints in cars and the “soft wall” technology that lines some tracks, designed to absorb more of the impact of a crash.  Not one driver has died in the 10 years since.  The league took his passing seriously, and the attention to safety has paid off.

There will likely never be anyone else like the man who made NASCAR his brand.  Earnhardt was a shrewd businessman.  He was also an old-school breed of driver, the kind you’d expect to see on some old dirt track in rural Alabama.  That combination is hard to come by nowadays.  These younger drivers are all just a little too pretty.

[Photo Source: Hot Cappers]

Even though it might make winning a sixth championship harder for his team, Jimmie Johnson is fine with whatever changes to the NASCAR points system are on the way.  According to Sports Illustrated, Johnson is ready and willing to challenge for the Sprint Cup Championship regardless of the circumstances:

“I don’t care what races are in the Chase, the format to win the championship, I could care less,” Johnson said, “because I feel confident that my team will be able to win championships under any set of circumstances.”

Johnson’s record five titles have all come in the Chase system, which debuted in 2004 and already has been tweaked once before. He was unbeatable in a 10-driver field, and it didn’t change when expansion pushed the Chase to 12 drivers who were seeded based on bonus points earned through “regular season” victories.

He didn’t take it personally when NASCAR chairman Brian France indicated last summer more changes could come during the offseason, and Johnson’s not stressing about where the series could be headed. The Associated Press reported earlier this week NASCAR is considering dumping the points system used since 1975 in favor of a simpler method that awards points based directly on the finishing position in the 43-car field.

“There’s a lot of speculation at this point, but in theory, if it is 43 points for the winner on down to one for the last-place car, in concept it’s still very similar to what we have now,” Johnson said. “I know people expect me to react and think, ‘Oh, they’ve got to leave it alone, don’t change it.”’

NASCAR’s brief offseason ended Thursday when drivers reported to Daytona International Speedway for three days of testing in preparation for next month’s season-opener. Although drivers were pleased with the smooth surface on the newly paved track, much of the talk centered on NASCAR’s upcoming changes.

So there you have it.  For those of you who actually care about NASCAR – or parity – this is probably a pretty big deal.  For the rest of us, well, sports should involve some sort of athletic talent or skill.  Turning left at high speeds, while challenging for 3 to 5 hours at a time, is still impressively boring.

[Source: The Auto Channel]

Tim Flock, one of the pioneering drivers of early NASCAR,had a brilliant idea for a publicity stunt. Why not have a crazy wild animal, like a Rhesaus Monkey, ride shotgun in a already terrifying stock car??  We’ll give him a cute name like Jocko Flocko, give him a matching racing suit and hell, we’ll even give him a little booster seat as well. What could go wrong? Surprisingly, not a whole lot at first. The little fella rode along in 8 races in 1953 and even rode to victory lane.

All was going great until one race when Flock’s little sidekick got down from his seat and discovered the trap door to the wheelwell that drivers used to check tire wear. The monkey stuck his head in the wheelwell of a 150MPH+ car and promptly lost his little mind. In what was probably the longest lap in recorded history, Flock had to fight off a crazed monkey scared out of his wits. Flock had to pit to pry the hysterical animal off of his face and lost 2nd place and 600 dollars, thus earning young Jocko early retirement.

Maybe if Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rode with a Badger,it would be the kick in the pants he needs to do better. What better way to motivate a driver to finish as quickly as possible than fear of death by crazed Badger.