Matt Kenseth wins the Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona, Friday, July 5, 2013
Photo – Getty Images

Friday night’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona wasn’t a typical Daytona race. Four cautions throughout the event left very few cars off the track. Restrictor plate ace Matt Kenseth navigated his way to the front toward the closing laps and a nice draft from Truck Series regular James Buescher propelled Kenseth to his first Nationwide victory with Joe Gibbs Racing. Other than about a five car pileup, the race didn’t see too many wrecks that fans have grown accustomed to seeing in the past.

It was Travis Pastrana leading the first lap from his second starting position, but he would not see the front or even the checkered flag again in the race. A wreck with four laps remaining totaled his car for the night along with his shot at victory.

A scary moment for Brian Vickers with 22 laps remaining put him gliding through the grass after he was leading the race. His teammate Matt Kenseth was pushing him and one wrong move by Kenseth, put Vickers in the grass, but Vickers was able to avoid any wall contact and pitted to repair his splitter damage.

With four laps left in the race, the only accident of the night broke out when Travis Pastrana came down on Cole Whitt in turn four. Pastrana was turned by Whitt’s nose and went up the track and into other cars. Jason White was also involved and took a hard hit into the outside wall. Other cars collected include Robert Richardson Jr, Jeffery Earnhardt, and Jamie Dick.

Once the red flag was lifted for the cleanup, the race resumed with two laps remaining. Kenseth received drafting help from Buescher on the restart and the tandem never looked back. The field got dicey with every second of the closing laps, but they never resulted in the big one. Kenseth and Buescher were far out ahead of the other cars and Buescher happily pushed Kenseth to the win.

“..I knew I had to stay committed to him for the rest of the race” Buescher said since the two tagged up when neither had a partner with around twenty laps to go.

Kenseth is no stranger to the victory circle at Daytona since he has two Daytona 500 victories (2009 and 2012.) Although this win was just for pride, Kenseth hopes to translate something over to his car for tomorrow night’s Coke Zero 400.

It was Elliot Sadler taking home the “Dash4Cash” incentive by being the highest finisher in the drawing for the prize. Sadler pocketed $100,000 and he’ll be back for more next week at New Hampshire along with Kyle Larson, Sam Hornish Jr, and Austin Dillon who will also being going after the 100k.

This event was not a typical Daytona race, but nonetheless it was a good one. The Sprint Cup cars take the track Saturday night for what could be a wild and crazy event.

Results via ESPN.com