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A Long Wait for Roush When officials at the Daytona 500 race finally called the race for rain, they also closed a chapter in the book that is Jack Roush. Despite winning the 24 Hours of Daytona ten times, Roush's NASCAR racing teams had never crossed the line first at the Daytona 500. When it did happen (above), nobody knew for sure. Rain had moved in and NASCAR officials red-flagged the race, parking all cars in the pit row to see when the rain would pass. About 30 minutes later, officials called an end and set the order as the cars had when crossing the line under the red flag.
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It had been a tumultuous weekend for the Roush-Fenway team. Kenseth had wrecked his primary car on Thursday and had to start yesterday's 500-mile race from the back. Incidents during the race had also taken out other Roush cars. "I tend to get all tore up for the bad things that happen – you know, Jamie McMurray got caught in one of the early wrecks and had a great car, Carl Edwards got caught in a wreck and damaged his car. So I was really agonizing over those missed opportunities," explained Roush. Kenseth took the lead on Lap 146 of the race. He got a push from Kevin Harvick and moved past Elliott Sadler, just before a crash caused the event's eighth caution flag. Rain and lightning halted the race seven laps later. "We've been here for more than 20 years, trying to do this thing, and I got so conditioned for being frustrated through it that I was almost not believing that it happened. I'll be black and blue for the next few days just from pinching myself to make sure that I’m not dreaming," added Roush.
CP