Last Sunday, Danica Patrick became the first female to win a pole for a race in NASCAR's top series (Sprint Cup). Patrick, who is a rookie-of-the-year contender in the series this year, claimed the pole for the Daytona 500 with a qualifying lap at 196.434 mph (45.816 seconds) during time trials. Jeff Gordon grabbed the second starting position with a lap at 196.292 mph (45.850 secs.). The rest of the 43-car field for this race was determined in Thursday's Budweiser Duel (twin qualifying races).

Matt Kenseth, who is in his first season as driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, is the defending winner of this race.

Last year's Daytona 500 featured a first for this event. It was delayed one day due to rain. The race also ran from start to finish at night for the first time. After the weather in the Daytona Beach area had improved on Monday afternoon, the 2.5-mile track was dried in time for a 7 p.m. ET start time.

By the time Kenseth hoisted the Harley J. Earl Trophy for winning the Daytona 500 a second time in his career, it was past 1 a.m. on Tuesday, thanks to a lengthy delay for a freakish accident that occurred with 40 laps to go. Juan Pablo Montoya's car slammed into a track-drying vehicle while the race was under caution. Montoya was traveling at a high rate of speed on the backstretch while rejoining the field, but he lost control and slid into the back of the dryer located in turn three. The vehicle, which had jet fuel on board, burst into flames. The fuel then spilled down the track in the turn area before a fire erupted. Track personnel were successful in repairing the track surface affected by the fire.

Kenseth overcame overheating issues and then avoided two big crashes on the tri-oval before holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle in a green- white-checkered finish to win the race. A pair of multi-car wrecks occurred on the tri-oval during the closing laps. Seven drivers were involved in the first one, while eight were caught up in the last incident, which set up the two-lap overtime finish. Kenseth pulled away from Biffle and Earnhardt Jr. coming out of the final turn on the last lap. He beat Earnhardt Jr. to the finish line by 0.2 seconds. Kenseth's first Daytona 500 win came in 2009, a race that was curtailed because of rain.

Those drivers who have won back-to-back Daytona 500s include: Sterling Marlin, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough. Marlin was the last driver who accomplished the feat, doing so from 1994-95. He's also the only driver whose first two career wins in the Cup Series occurred in the Daytona 500. Petty won this race consecutively from 1973-74, and Yarborough scored back-to-back victories from 1983-84.

Trevor Bayne is the youngest winner of the Daytona 500. Bayne won this race one day after he celebrated his 20th birthday on Feb. 20, 2011. When he was 50 years, 2 months and 11 days old, Bobby Allison became the oldest driver to win the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14, 1988.

Petty holds the record for most Daytona 500 wins with seven ((1964, '66, '71, '73, '74, '79, '81). Gordon leads all active drivers with three victories in this race (1997, '99 and 2005).

Lee Petty won the inaugural Daytona 500 on Feb. 22 1959. With more than 41,000 in attendance at the newly-built DIS, Lee Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish to win the race. However, the winner was not decided until 61 hours after the checkered flag had waved. NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. reviewed the finish from a newsreel and concluded that Petty crossed the line just two feet ahead of Beauchamp.

Since NASCAR began using electronic timing and scoring in 1993, the closest margin of victory in the Daytona 500 happened in 2007 when Kevin Harvick nipped Mark Martin to finish line by only 0.02 seconds.

The quickest a Daytona 500 has been completed occurred in 1980 when Buddy Baker, driving an Oldsmobile, finished the race in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 55 seconds at an average speed of 177.602 mph.

Seven drivers recorded their first career Cup Series victories in the Daytona 500: Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Marlin (1994), Michael Waltrip (2001) and Bayne (2011).

Four drivers who are competing in this year's Daytona 500 made their first career Cup start in this race: Tony Stewart (1999), Casey Mears (2003), Kasey Kahne (2004) and Patrick (2012).

The purse for this year's Daytona 500 will be $19,339,134, with at least $1,444,850 awarded to the race winner. The second-place finisher is guaranteed to collect $1,063450, while the third-place finisher gets $773,000. Last year's purse for the Daytona 500 was $19,142,601. Kenseth had a $1,588,887 payday for his victory.

The driver who leads the 100th lap in the Daytona 500 will collect a $200,000 bonus. Martin Truex Jr. led the way at the halfway point in last year's race to claim the inaugural "Daytona 500 Mid-Race Leader Award."

Actor James Franco will serve as Grand Marshal for this year's Daytona 500. Franco stars in the Disney adventure fantasy film "Oz The Great and Powerful," which is scheduled for release on March 8. His other film credits include: "127 Hours," in which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, the "Spider-Man" trilogy, "Milk," "Pineapple Express" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

The next Sprint Cup Series race is the March 3 Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Denny Hamlin won last year's race there.