>> mike: the daytona 500 on fox is sponsored by toyota. by at&t, the nation's largest 4g network, at&t, rethink possible. by good year, the official tire of nascar. and by gi joe retaliation in theaters everywhere june 29. >> the daytona 500 has a new leader in the race. pace has picked up. get closer to your favorite drivers' performance through every turn and pitstop through the new race 360 available now only at nascar.com. jeff burton the veteran from south boston, virginia. driving a chevy for richard childress, he and greg biffle got together on the outside and went all the way to the front. >> darrell: pretty much everybody knows the 16 car of

greg biffle is bad fast. won both practices. qualified on the front row. when burton saw him coming he said man this is the guy i want to go with. jumped out there and went with him and took him right to the lead. >> mike: here we see the two driver tandem in the outside lane racing against the pack and it is quicker than the pack but they can only do that kind of racing here for so long with the new rules package. >> darrell: one of the things they are also experimenting with right now like we see who can i get behind and push that we can make time on the outside. you get the right partner biffle and burton did it. now, you got jeff gordon sitting back there. >> mike: 44 of 200 laps complete. two caution flagsarily. a five car wreck sent jimmie johnson, danica patrick, trevor bayne. a second crash about ryan

newman put us under the second caution flag. five different leaders. six lead changes. hamlin led 24 of them. now, jeff burton to the front. rain nose-to-tail, one pushing the other but can't do that for long. >> larry: because of all of the changes nascar made with the cooling you can only do it for a lap or so and then you have gages that will flash at you almost like an idiot light in the passenger car. you know then you have to get air to the radiator. >> darrell: when jeff gordon in the 24 were closing down on the 11 car really fast. anybody else may have gone up and bammed into him and tried to push him but jeff gordon in the line on the outside with dale, jr. and tony stewart eased off the gas and a little trail braking and fell right in behind him. >> mike: to jeff burton whose older brother ward won the daytona 500 in 2002, burton's best 500 finish, second in

2000. ♪ the heat is on, on the street ♪ ♪ inside your head, on every beat ♪ ♪ and the beats so loud, deep inside ♪ ♪ the presssure's high, ah! ♪just to stay alive ♪ cause the heat is on i'm pitting, i need a coke ♪ oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho, ♪ caught up in the action, i've been looking out for you ♪ ♪ oh-wo-ho, oh-wo-ho, ♪ tell me can you feel it, ♪ tell me can you feel it, ♪ tell me can you feel it, ♪ the heat is on ♪ the heat is on

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[ mayhem ] please continue to hold. the next available claims representative will be with you in 97 minutes. [ laughs ] ♪ and if you got cut rate insurance, there's nothing you can do about this. so get allstate. the only insurance company that guarantees your claim experience won't be mayhem... like me. [ dennis ] introducing the claim satisfaction guarantee. only from allstate. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you from mayhem like allstate. >> mike: the daytona 500 on fox

is sponsored by coca-cola. the polar bears invite you to open a hill happe little happis racing season. time for the at&t race break. brought to you by the nation's largest 4g network. rethink possible. at the quarter mark, jeff burton from south boston, virginia is leading the way. take a quick look at what has transpired so far. the recap shows us early in the race as jimmie johnson goes into the outside retaining wall on just lap two after a bump from elliott sadler that took away several other contending cars including that of danica patrick and also the two cars that won the last two races. drivers, rather, trevor bayne and david regan. then watch ryan newman a former 500 winner himself a tire goes down on the racees off in the . a.j. allmendinger in the back of him and caused mele on pit

road and they continue to work live on da danica patrick's ca. the idea is to get her back out on the racetrack and get as much experience for her as possible. they has to stay up to speed. and michael waltrip, who do you like at the quarter way mark of the 500? >> michael: i love the move burton made. he pulled up and biffle pushed him to the front and he has been there since. i love denny hamlin's attitude. i talked to them the other day and he said i'm going for it every lap. i want to lead. he tried to do the same thing burton did without as much success. but that attitude could pay off for him if things get tight at the end. >> mike: see how the top four starters are doing. all over the field but right now greg biffle is the fastest of the four to sign up and play at&t's fastest driver challenge next week by texting fast to

34763. you could have a chance to win 4 gs just by playing. brought to you by the nation's largest 4g network. at&t, rethink possible. now, back to mike joy. >> mike: denny hamlin, paul menard on pit road. steve. >> steve: denny hamlin a little free when exits the corner with somebody behind him. be give him four tires. handling becoming an issue. paul menard, two tires and fuel. >> mike: they leave the pits while work continues on stremme's car. castle also in the pit lane as green flag stops begin here at lap 53. >> darrell: something the crew chiefs have to keep up with as the track rubbers back up from all the rain. if it rubbers back up the cars will change quite a bit. got to make chassis adjustments to keep up with the track.

>> mike: how about the leader, matt? >> matt: the former july leader here at daytona. jeff burton's 31 machine was tight in the early going. working with the roush fenway teammate greg biffle on the racetrack. they should pit together in about three laps, mike, taking on four tires. >> larry: you see how much faster two drivers or more are running together that they are. that is one reason you want to partner when you come to pit road to make a pitstop where you can leave pit road. >> mike: jeff gordon's crew chief won the 500 with matt kenseth in 2009. three more takers from the middle of the pack. clint bowyer. leads a group on to pit road that includes michael mcdowell and bobby labonte. krista? >> krista: clint bowyer is in. said surprised how quickly the team has gelled. four tiles and fuel for clint bowyer in the 15 machine.

>> darrell: as they get ready to peel off the pit. so easy to run over a guy unless he gets the hand signal the spotters tell each other when they will pit. sometimes you can have real issues getting on pit road. >> mike: burton brings them around one more time. he had a chance to win at nascar's other fastest track, talladega, alabama, last october. his then teammate clint bowyer, though, passed him on the last lap for the victory. now, here is kevin harvick in the 29. jamie mcmurray and juan pablo montoya. >> steve: kevin harvick reported a small value vie break. something they are coving an eye on. >> dick berggren? >> dick: he has run with his teammate. juan pablo montoya. the plan for got cars to hook up, run together and don't damage anything. >> mike: terry labonte, joe nemecheck and david gilliland also making pitstops.

>> larry: important to pit together as they did. that was the drivers running 6 or 7 seconds behind the lead pack. >> darrell: that is the back pack. >> john: we stay under green as joey logano, martin truex, mark martin, kyle busch and others come to pit road. steve? >> steve: martin truex, jr. in. good news for him, mike. no handling, no overheating issues. fueled and four tires. dick? >> dick: joey logano has run in the top five virtually the entire race. his car needs an adjustment. >> matt: an air pressure adjustment for the 18 of kyle busch. left side clean. the car very impressive. felt like an early going in the race. >> mike: david reutimann and ricky stenhouse also stopped. here come most of the leaders led by jeff burton, regan smith.

kezelowski, kenseth in. steve? >> steve: regan smith on pit road. right-side tires. krista? >> krista: steve, greg biffle was worried about getting hot but told his team no, it's okay. four tires. matt? >> matt: the crew going to work on the left side. no chassis adjustments for burton. solid stop so far. his teammate biffle is away as well. same time. >> mike: elliott sadler also stopped. >> darrell: we haven't heard a lot about heating problems. the cool air of the evening running at night helped keep the engines cooler than the qualifying races. >> larry: we are about 20 degrees cooler. >> mike: a big lockup for dave blaney in the yellow number 36. jeff gordon, blaney. kasey kahne and dale earnhardt, jr. pitting. dick? >> dick: jeff gordon has said that he has been running this race wide open and can't make forward progress.

the number 24 car a brand new car simply does not have the speed that this three-time champion is looking for. >> mike: there is only one car that has not stopped. the 14 on the left of your screen of tony stewart who i'm hearing missed pit road the last time by. >> larry: an issue for tony stewart. blocked accidentally by the 18 of kyle busch. he had planned to pit the lap before. he ha is it locked down to 55 miles an hour. he was going to pit with the 24. connot get the car down to the bottom in time and get down on the brakes. stewart is now in now, mike. going to make an air pressure change and also a chassis adjustment. jeff paterson has the first can of fuel in. the second can of fuel in. solid stop. >> mike: four tires for the 15.

and stewart is away but leaves pit road by himself and no single car is as fast as the pack drafting along. tony stewart has got some work to do. danica patrick's car close to returning to the racetrack. 60 laps complete in the daytona 500 on fox. ♪ ♪ we'll take two chicken pot pies. [ male announcer ] the kfc chunky chicken pot pie. our signature recipe. freshly baked and loaded with chunks of chicken and vegetables. some things never go out of style. try it now, just $3.99. classic, man. [ dude 1 ] yeah, classic.

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>> mike: the daytona 500 on fox is sponsored by chevrolet. dare to compare your car to a chevy today. by kfc. come in today and taste why fresh is better. by american ethanol. american grown, american made, powering nascar. and by aaron's. credit is hard, aaron's is easy. welcome back to the daytona 500 where we are under caution for the third time tonight. debris in turn number two causes the yellow flag to be waved. we had cycled through pitstops. jeff burton reassumed the lead and that debris has now slid down off the racing surface. burton leading. greg biffle and landon castle gets the first free pass of the night. was the first car one lap down. so he will be able to drive

around the pace car and pick up the tail end of the lead lap. he is our aaron's lucky dog. >> darrell: larry, how is this going to affect halfway, buddy? got to beon our mind. 200 grand coming at halfway. is is this going to play into anybody's hands right there? >> larry: until the caution came a lot of the drivers that pitted early were going to have to pit before the halfway. a lot would have been able to go past the halfway before they had to pit. >> mike: there are five other cars on track a lap or more down who will have an opportunity to get a lap back here. we will explain in a minute. enter now for a chance to wen the camaro synergy and a talladega race weekend package plus meet tony stewart. visit win camaro synergy.com

right now. >> larry: i think some of the drivers, we have been ten laps is since they pitted. i think they have at least got to get fuel. >> john: danica patrick only the third woman to start the daytona 500. janet guthrie had two top 15 finishes. ran the great race. as did shawna robinson. pitstop. steve? >> steve: denny hamlin in in the 11. fuel only. the same for dale earnhardt, jr. dale earnhardt, jr. saying his car is handling very well. described it as neutral. regan smith in as well. >> mike: a lot of gas and go stops here. tony stewart. matt kenseth coming into the first pit sal. >> darrell: oops. want go over the line right there. got to bo goldman sachs. see the inspector telling him -- got to go back. >> looks like a little overheating there on kenseth's

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the daytona 500 on fox is sponsored by ford. proud sponsor of nascar. >> [radio]: i don't know if you are aware of it but it is quite a bit of pay at halfway. i will keep you posted on that but i think they will get stupid at halfway. >> mike: $200,000 is the midway pay day for the driver that leads the halfway lap. is coming. 33 laps from now as we go back to green. jeff burton's chevrolet on the outside of greg biffle's ford. >> larry: and with the caution i truly believe if we go caution free to the halfway lap 100 every driver out there should be able to make it on fuel. the only one i question is clint bowyer in the 15 who pitted back in lap 55. >> darrell: the crew chiefs are starting to remind the driver. the halfway. that is $200,000. that is a lot of money. a lot of races don't even pay

that much to win. >> mike: marcus ambrose with biffle. kyle busch in the 18 behind him. clint bowyer, joey logano. three toyotas lined up on the inside lane behind the front two fords. >> larry: and marcus ambrose in the 9 has it been strong the entire speedweeks. top five in the gatorade duel race. >> darrell: that car of matt kenseth when came into the pits he was having some sort of issue. here they are circulating water through the thing on the left side. the guys have a water hose putting water in the car trying to cool it back down. >> larry: it as fresh ride system. and what they have done, steve, looked like they tried to get the water back out and get the system back full. >> steve: matt kenseth said he said it is like the water

system won't pre surize. the water temperatures are fluctuating wildly for him. just another issue. having radio problems as well. >> darrell: think about your own passenger car. the water temperature won't fluctuate at all if you don't have any water in it. got to get water back in it because the gages can't work without water. >> mike: kenseth still on the lead lap but not with the lead pack. joe nemechek has taken his car to the garage. michael mccow bell makes an unscheduled pitstop but up front the pack still rages and it is 28 cars deep. >> darrell: probably the biggest sur please of the evening for me, mike has been how bunk bunched up the cars have stayed. anticipated things getting stretched out more than they have. track conditions perfect. cool night. a lot of grip. everybody is able to hang together. >> mike: danica patrick caught up in the lap two crash had

this to say to her team as she headed back out on the racetrack. >> [radio]: thank you all for working so hard. >> what is that? >> [radio]: thanks for working so hard to get me back out. >> steering wheel might be off a little bit. >> [radio]: i will let you know if something feels really weird. >> mike: she is 62 laps down but out there getting valuable track time. she will run 10 of the sprint cup races this year. >> darrell: she had so much confidence coming into daytona. this has been h her best racetrack in the nationwide car or in the cup car. really some where as she had marked as a good place to get a great finish. >> larry: if she is running limited schedule the question is why would they put her back out there if she is that many laps down. they want her to get seat time. the 10 car is running the entire schedule. the driver in it at phoenix david reutimann in the 9 car he has cracked the top ten.

>> mike: three ride racing mid pack. going tandem with the 56 of martin truex i. >> darrell: hamlin so smart. got off of truex going into the corner because you don't want to push the guy in the corner. he is hungry, man. >> mike: and truex is inching his way toward the front of the inside line led by greg biffle. >> darrell: and the changes that were made in the off season to the cooling system you can push for maybe a lap or two. you just can't push for 10 or 15 or all day. >> mike: 28 laps to halfway. and that ring the bell lap for the $200,000 midway payday bonus. back in the day, michael waltrip we used to have a halfway bonus. it wasn't as much money. i recall a day when you and ken

schroeder went at it to get the extra money. major league baseball right around the corner. mlb on fox returns. april 7. 73 laps complete. the fords of greg biffle and aussie marcus ambrose lead the toyotas of kyle busch, clint bowyer and joey logano. [ teen ] times are good, aren't they, kids?

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>> mike: let's take an a inside look at what is happening in the nascar sprint cup series brought to you by sprint. jeff burton and denny hamlin each led 24 laps. most of all drivers in the 77 laps so far. and the biggest mover in the race, david reutimann has gained 21 spots driving a car for a team that was just put together in the last two and a half weeks from the bones of the former red bull organization. new leaders martin truex. worked up the outside. denny hamlin, greg biffle,

marcos ambrose, jeff gordon. >> darrell: jeff gordon all interesting to me, larry. in the bud shootout he said his car wouldn't run. something wrong with the front shocks. a little bit ago he said i gt no speed. the car won't go. how do you get up that close to the front? >> larry: he is looking for more speed. i think he has good speed, he is just looking for more. looking at martin truex, jr. in the 56 car. i know he has 22 laps to the halfway money, $200,000. martin truex, jr. led the halfway lap a year ago. less pay day, only $50,000, last year's 2011. >> mike: 79 laps compete. truex the leader. his closest teammate clint bowyer the 5 hour energy toyota in 7th. within sight of the lead. four cars back on the inside lane. that is jeff gordon. the 24.

and the 55 is another new teammate at mwr. >> darrell: i would say martin is lurking. just kind of lurks around and won't hear a whole lot about him for awhile. >> larry: 53-year-old mark martin. his 30th year in sprint cup. we know how close he came in 2007 to winning the 500. barely beat back to the line by kevin harvick. >> darrell: he had it and lost it. had it and a lot of it. lost it. >> mike: 53 years old and in better personal shape, physical shape than most 33-year-olds. brad kezelowski in the blue deuce in 12th place the leading dodge charger in the race as we are 20 laps to halfway. we saw jeff gordon wave out the window. >> mike: fire on jeff gordon's

chevrolet! >> darrell: engine blew all to pieces. >> [radio]: just blew up, guys all done. >> mike: jeff gordon has brought out the fourth caution flag of the night at lap 81. i saw that hand out the window, darrell to signal the drivers behind. >> [radio]: the water pressure gage was not working properly. i don't know. i never went red on any of my gages. you know, so i have no idea where that came from. >> darrell: the second guy we heard talk about maybe the gage is not working night. when a car sits overnight sometimes they get moisture in the gages and in the whole system and the gages may have malfunctioned and caused jeff not to realize he had a problem until it was too late. >> mike: pulls to the outside and signals. mark martin gets away from right behind him. good thing. >> darrell: hendrick motorsports going for their 200th win this weekend. jeff gordon is not going to deliver it. jimmie johnson is not going to deliver it.

>> mike: that leaves dale earnhardt, jr. and kasey kahne for the hendrick team. >> larry: mark martin in the 55 for a moment was going follow him. he thought gordon was moving up and then realized what was going on as he saw jeff waving the hand out of the window. >> darrell: while see are speaking to rick hendrick, the fox team would like to thank you for all you did for the fox team this week. everybody really appreciated your handout and it was great. >> mike: tony raines will receive the free pass on this the fourth caution flag of the night as gordon posts around to the garage area. >> larry: the big question with the halfway money change strategy at this point in the race. everyone is going to make a pitstop. i think we he may see guys doing something to get off pit road in a hurry. >> steve: exactly right. fuel only for martin truex, jr.

the leader. crew chief chad johnson saying don't slide. krista? >> krista: that is the same request for greg biffle. don't slide your tires. also driver wants the car freed up just a little bit. matt? >> matt: still debate on what to do for kyle busch. they are going to change right-side tires only. debating whether fuel only or tires. they went tires. >> dick: joey logano also told not to slide his tires. new voices in his ear. new crew chief and new spotter are and has run very well in this race so far. >> mike: the race off pit road won by greg biffle and marcos ambrose and martin truex drops two spots. there is pole sitter carl edwards. uh oh. should we be letting him p-l-a-y with our t-a-b-l-e-t? [ mom ] i think it's fine. it's the new element from at&t so it's w-a-t-e-r proof. cool. what else does it d-o?

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>> mike: tonight's aerial coverage by good year. everything we have learned

making tires for the proving grounds of nascar inspires what we roll into yours. good year. more driven. under caution at daytona. paul menard heads for pit road. terry labonte stays out. he is the leader of the race. from greg biffle and marcos ambrose. back to green in a lap or so. march 9 the ultimate fighter premiers only on fx. 32 contend iters face off in a special two hour premier event. the ultimate fighter now live beginning march 9 at 9:00 p.m. only on fx. menard and kevin harvick, richard childress racing teammates. pitted here along with david gilliland's ford. light is out atop the safety car. we are ready to go back to green. now, you can join the dew crew

on facebook. join by march 30 and enter for the chance to win dale's fire suit he is wearing right there in that shot in the daytona 500. get the dew crew app now only on facebook. >> darrell: look at those gloves. those things are frightening looking. you know why they are that way? when gets that hand up, buddy, you will see that and notice that. >> mike: 15 laps to halfway. jeff gordon, three-time champion of the 500 in the garage, out of the race. engine trouble. >> darrell: i just feel like that jeff things it is something in the gage package. his water pressure or water temperature didn't give him the indication he needed to save the engine. >> larry: hendrick motorsports has about 8 engines in this daytona 500. >> mike: for only the second time in 54 years an import name

plate paces the field. porsche, 1971. toyota in 2012. the camry about to make the sharp left turn. the silver car of terry labonte and white car of greg biffle. get your hand on the volume knob because we are going to crank it up for you! [cars revving]

[cars revving]

>> mike: 13 laps to halfway. greg biffle the leader. right behind him, terry labonte. 30 daytona 500 starts behind only dave marcos and richard petty, trying to win it for the first time. >> darrell: and mike, a lot of guys downplay the halfway money. i'm not worried about that, i'm thinking about the big prize. we will find out how much truth there was in the statements. these guys are getting ready to turn the wick up with ten laps to go to get the money. >> mike: on the outside the drafting tandem that worked so well before i there he he goes. >> mike: around goes labonte off the bumper of marcos ambrose and caution is out. >> darrell: he is going to save it. >> larry: got him right in the left-rear corner that we have been talking about.

>> mike: and the rains that have plagued daytona beach for the last few days have captured the frank stoddard car driven by terry labonte. his ford can't get out of the mud. >> darrell: you can see marcos ambrose right down there on the bumper of terry labonte number 32. gets down on the left side. >> mike: fortunately that runoffoff area is paveed and labonte. look at the car control as he tries to keep that thing away from the wall. and ends up in the grass. >> darrell: there is a number of things done to the cars that have really helped them. the big fin across the deck lid really helps. all this area being paveed, that is very helpful in saving the car and the driver. >> mike: before this happened, wondering if frank stoddard had positioned labonte at the front after pitstops to go for are

the halfway cash. >> [radio]: we have about 15 to go to the halfway. >> [radio]: a good way to get wrecked, probably. >> darrell: that was pretty smart. he called that one. >> larry: darrell, he had been out there about 20 laps on his tires. he did not even pit that last time. >> mike: cars stay out and do not pit even though pit road is open. steve byrnes? >> steve: jeff gordon down in the garage, mike. jeff, i saw you debriefing with some of the key engine personnel at hendrick motorsports. have you diagnosed the issue? >> well, ultimately broke a crank but we are trying to figure out what caused that. pretty strange, you know, we have gone through so much reliability testing that if we had seen some high temps or high water pressure i would have kind of expected some of this to happen. but i was actually seeing

surprisingly low temps and low prohe sure. so i don't know, maybe something was off there. but boy, it is a shame. our chevrolet was really strong. just biding our time and being patient and working with guys and every once in awhile we could get up to the front. we weren't even really trying at that time. you are racing out there but in order to make a big move to get to the lead you do have to push and then you do take a risk of getting the temps up. a great pitstop there and just got to thank drive down hunger for everything they do. thank you pepsi max and chevrolet and all of the sponsors. not the way we wanted to start the season or the daytona 500. we will go on to phoenix. >> steve: we'll see you there, thanks. >> mike: thank you, steve. ellot sadler a long stay on pit road. there is the front of marcos ambrose car.

a little contact. >> darrell: labonte stayed out. he was on older tires and if you are coming off the corner and have to squeeze off the throttle a little bit the guy behind you can easily make contact with you. >> larry: during the last commercial break dick berggren told me he was fighting fuel issues. >> mike: back of the screen, the 9 of ambrose. >> darrell: i'm not -- i mean i know that the 9 has made contact with the 32 but i'm not sure that is what started the 2 around. the 32 around. >> mike: see what else we can find. labonte is back right there. that is not damage. i mean that looks like a tire rub or something on ambrose car. that was not from the silver car of labonte. >> darrell: i think that happened when he was going by labonte possibly i don't know. just from the shot we saw there there seemed to be a gap between he and terry labonte.

>> mike: ten laps to halfway. the restart green next time by. if the halfway lap is run under green, $200,000. if we happen to be under caution then the fifth consecutive green flag lap after halfway will determine the winner of that $200,000 bonus. octane academy is on fuel tv. check your local listings for the time in your area. >> darrell: this is going to turn into a little ten lap heat race with a $200,000 prize at the end of the raise. >> larry: not many heat races pay that kind of money, does it? >> darrell: no! >> mike: in 1990 when cope won the 500, he is and his team didn't bank for winning the race. >> darrell: this is a big, big bonus. >> mike: getting set for it the restart. biffle and ambrose, all nascar

restarts in their top three national series are double file. the leader gets his choice of inside or outside lane. and then everyone else lines up in fashion. second place car on the front row and then everything else inside outside, inside outside in order. >> darrell: is it just a coincidence or is $200,000 at stake here in a lap or two, five, ten, whatever it is is, the 18 car all of a sudden is in the picture. >> larry: i was going to say that is the driver i want to watch. kyle busch in the 18. >> mike: when they take the green it will be nine laps to the $200,000 midway payday at the daytona 500. 32 cars on the lead lap for this restart. here we go!

trying to come up the middle kasey kahne in the number 5 trying to force the issue right down the center. >> larry: he is getting help from his teammate dale earnhardt, jr. in the 88 car. >> mike: and junior leaves kahne. he is still coming. he has matt kenseth. but right there on the spoiler and pulls up to marcos ambrose. >> larry: how about matt kenseth in the 17. it wasn't that long ago that he was on pit road with them putting water in his race car. >> darrell: how about dale, jr. just like his daddy. when it comes down to the little sprint things here for a lot of money he gets in the hunt. >> mike: kenseth now 17 the man in the middle. junior on the outside. riding with dale, jr. there goes kezelowski in the

deuce. and almirola. and it is like dale, jr. threw the anchor out. >> darrell: kyle busch did that. you make the wrong move somebody is there 2 there to ce hole up and leave you hanging. >> mike: jeff burton on the bottom with mark martin in the 55. stewart 14 in the middle with bowyer the 15. here they come. 7 laps to halfway. 200 miles an hour. $200,000. 7 laps from now.

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>> mike: the daytona 500 on fox is sponsored by dodge. visit your local dodge dealer today. by pizza hut. order the new $10 dinner box today. by directv. if you call yourself a sports fan you have to get directv. and by verizon 4glte. america's fastest 4g network. three laps to halfway in the daytona 500 where the midway payday is $200,000 awaits. will it be a driver from the front of the pack who is in contention to win the race or are will two drivers hook

nextel cup tandem to try to get to the front and the steal the money just about six miles from racing right now. >> darrell: if you are not leading the race the car in front all you see is $200,000 flashing on the back of the car. can i get around him, that is the question? >> mike: mark martin peeks out of line in the 55. two laps to halfway. biffle in command. >> larry: mark martin i think in the 55 would love to get up there and try to do something with martin truex, jr. in the 56 his teammate. and clint bowyer in the 15, another teammate. >> darrell: they have all seen the racing down here from the fourth turn to the start/finish line is where most of the passes have been made. i got to believe they are waiting for that come to get the money lap. >> mike: second, martin truex, jr. hasn't won in awhile. he has a toyota, denny hamlin right behind his. >> darrell: and in the

qualifying race greg biffle is right where he is right now trying to get the white fag. he made an' vasive move and got caught. >> mike: one happen to halfway and $200,000 only for the race leader. >> darrell: going to look like a cubby of quails when they come on turn four. >> mike: will any one challenge biffle for the bonus? >> darrell: they are getting all lined up here. getting ready. may have made the move a little quick. able to get back in there. burton in the 31. i thought he moved too quick. >> mike: here they come. truex. hamlin. will they split the bonus because denny hamlin moved truex to the front. 50 feet. martin truex, jr. leads the halfway lap of the daytona 500. >> darrell: timetimed it perfe. >> larry: definitely got help from hamlin in the 11. >> darrell: he will probably

split it wtn an with denny beie kind he is. >> larry: just made $150,000 more than he did a year ago. >> darrell: and he will fall back in the pack some where and ride awhile. >> mike: denny hamlin dropped behind tony stewart in the 14. as you ride with kasey kahne. 100 laps down. 100 laps to go. the other news about that halfway lap is that we won't come back tomorrow. once nascar completes more than 50% of the advertised race distance the race will be official tonight. tony stewart challenges for the lead as we go down to john roberts for the at&t mid race report. >> john: martin truex, jr. won the midway payday but winning the daytona 500 will be more

difficult. allison is the last driver to lead halfway and win the 500 and that was 20 years ago in 1992. time for the at&t mid race report and now going to spin it forward and see who our experts like for the rest of the race. start out with darrell waltrip. >> darrell: i think the smoke at the beginning of the race to win the whole thing. almost took the lead. i like his strategy. my man is doing just what he needs to be doing. i'm sticking with smoke. >> there isn't any one on the gas out there like denny hamlin. he pushed martin truex to the halfway bonus. shoved tony stewart all the way to the lead. i like denny hamlin's attitude and i think he wins the race. >> michael as far as strategy, we have seen a lot of agendas. i think if they will be racing hard near the end, make sure your driver has some good fresh tires. >> the debut for