By Tim Leeming

From all I’ve heard, the rain-delayed Daytona 500 had a huge audience in prime time that Monday evening.  Some attribute that to Danica Patrick, others to the fact that there was really nothing else of great appeal on that Monday evening.  Regardless, with all the racing action and the jet-dryer incident (don’t you love that designation for a flaming incident?), the ratings were, so I’ve read, very good.  Things were looking good for the 2012 Cup season after the exciting end to the 2011 campaign with the championship ending in a tie but decided by Tony Stewart’s five wins to Carl “Duckboy” Edwards’ one win.  Everything about this season was looking good.  Even the crowd at Daytona looked really huge from what I could see on tv.