4:23 PM: That does it for me from Daytona. I'm off to Orlando to live blog from the Dunk Contest tonight. Hope you'll join me there as well. Provided that is I don't sit in traffic for the next seven hours. Thank you so much for following along this afternoon and helping me attempt to make sense of the demolition derby we just witnessed. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday!
4:27 PM: Someone just walked into the media center and said one word. It rhymes with luck. Everyone nodded vigorously in agreement. And that is pretty much all you need to know about today's race.
4:19 PM: Johanna Long finished in 21st place. Seventeen spots better than Danica Patrick. I'll be impatiently waiting for her national ad campaign all week.
4:15 PM: Brad Keselowski talking to the media about that wild finish. He seems relieved it's over, 'I feel like I won the lottery just to finish third'.
4:12 PM: Joe Gibbs Racing just tweeted that Kyle Busch is okay. His completely-mangled car had to be towed off the track. All involved in that last wreck are reported to be okay.
4:09 PM: Today's top five: 1. Buescher 2. Sadler 3. Keselowski 4. Dillon 5. Malsam. We're sure that's exactly what NASCAR was opening for.
4:08 PM: I'm told Buescher married the team owner's daughter in the offseason. Well, that's one way to get a ride in this business.
4:04 PM: It seems Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne pulled up to block Tony Stewart and then all hell broke loose. Major damage to a number of cars. James Buescher somehow escaped the carnage and was able to drive through to take the checkered flag.
4:02 PM: I think the race is over. Hard to say as EVERYONE gets taken out on the final turn.
4:00 PM: Busch brothers in the lead!
3:58 PM: We're green for the final two laps with less than half of the field remaining.
3:55 PM: I feel like I'm listening to a Powerball announcement as the media center announces all of the cars involved in that last wreck.
3:54 PM: I knew I should have moved to the infield care center.
3:51 PM: Well that didn't last long. Another multi-car crash. Last car standing will take the checkered flag. This feels more like a Demolition Derby.
3:50 PM: We're back to green. Let's hope this lasts.
3:47 PM: I should probably do the rest of this blog from the infield care center since just about everyone is there.
3:41 PM: Ten laps to go. Will ANYONE make it to the finish line? Anyone at all?
3:35 PM: P.A. announcer just read the list of all cars involved in that last wreck. It probably would have saved about three minutes to say who WASN'T involved. I believe 19 cars were involved. No, that's not a typo.
3:32 PM: Just heard there have been 36 lead changes today. And I have a feeling we'll see a few more before this is all said and done.
3:29 PM: Unofficial count of cars involved is nine. I'm guessing Cole Whitt is to blame. At least according to Danica.
3:26 PM: I think whatever car is left and able to move is going to win this race. I'm just not sure any car will make it until then. I can't even tell how many cars were involved in that crash. But I can see that one is on fire.
3:24 PM: Did Brian Scott just hit the wall again? No flag but I think Brian might want to call it a day.
3:21 PM: Dale Jr. did something! Dale Jr. did something!
3:16 PM: Danica getting ready to come back out. For those not familiar, points are earned for every lap completed so even though Danica has no chance in hell of winning this race, she wants to take advantage of every point she can in the Nationwide standings.
3:12 PM: Joey Gase's engine seems to have overheated, brining out another caution. More than one person made the 'the Go Green car made us go yellow' joke. But feel free to use it at home.
3:08 PM: I'm told Danica will not be speaking to the media until after the race. Very smart move for her to cool enough before saying something on the record. She impressed a lot of people with her composure after wrecking in Thursday's Duel and she doesn't want to backtrack. We all remember the YouTube classic of her stomping around during an Indy Race.
3:03 PM: Shawna Robinson update from her Twitter page: 'To all: Not hating on Danica. Always been a supporter and mention her a lot when speaking of the future of female racers in our sport.' To be fair, who else would she talk about when asked about female racers in the sport?
3:00 PM: The Busch brothers making some moves! I've said it before but I'll say it again in case their PR people are reading this. My dream live blog is a holiday with the Busch family.
2:59 PM: I know the only reason you're reading this is to see how the woman driver is doing. Happy to report Johanna Long is currently running 24th.
2:51 PM: And Brian Scott makes the groundskeeper's life a little tougher as he plows over the grass. He heads to the garage.
2:45 PM: I somehow missed the bright green car with severe front-end damage in my garage run. I did however find the Rick Santorum car and will be posting that picture on Twitter for your first look. Not quite the same.
2:27 PM: No. 7 car being brought to the garage. I'm going to run out and see if I can take some pictures and get some insight. Back momentarily.
2:24 PM: Danica blames Whitt to her crew on the radio, '88 hit me'. That's not going to gain her any new fans. Or friends in the garage.
2:22 PM: And there goes Danica. She gets bumped from behind by Cole Whitt and gets her Bumper Car all over the track. Yellow flag.
2:18 PM: I really need to stop typing things like that. As soon as I pressed 'save' they had dropped out of the top five. I swear that's indicative of how fast things change in this race and now how slow of a typer I am.
2:17 PM: Tony Stewart and Joey Logano battling for the lead.
2:13 PM: Danica Watch: She's currently running in 5th. Still better than Shawna Robinson did in her pole-sitting experience.
2:11 PM: We're back to green. Good for the race, bad for my ears.
2:06 PM: The best part about hanging in the media center of a NASCAR event is that all of the sponsors have their swag available. I've never seen more Oreos in my life.
2:01 PM: Jason Bowles' car has apparently overheated. We've got our first caution flag of the day. Someone asked me what I thought the issue was. I almost started laughing. I can't even change a tire. I of course diagnosed the issue as a faulty engine. Is that even a thing?
1:58 PM: Meant to mention this earlier but Danica isn't the only woman in this race, Johanna Long is making her Nationwide debut today in the No. 70 car. Can you imagine what would happen if she won a race before Danica does?
1:53 PM: Your current top five: Bliss, Hornish Jr., Keselowski, Nemecheck, Annett. Now there's the sexy story the national media wanted.
1:50 PM: The crowd goes crazy everytime it seems lilke Dale Jr. might have a chance to get ahead. Or so it appears. I can't hear anything besides the pounding throbbing of the engines. And you thought DJ Irie was annoying at Heat games.
1:45 PM: How cute! Everyone has a friend out there.
1:40 PM: ...Well that didn't last long. Danica dropping fast. Somewhere out there Shawna Robinson is working on her new diss track.
1:39 PM: One lap in and Danica is still in the lead! I promise I won't do that after every lap.
1:38 PM: Here we go!
1:31 PM: David Ragan and J.J. Yeley both missed the drivers' meeting this morning and are now starting from the rear. I don't know much but I know it's really hard to miss that meeting. EVERYONE knows when and where it is. I could have told them where to go. And I spend most of my time eating cookies in the media center.
1:28 PM: The ground is shaking. It's either race time or I'm sitting on a volcano.
1:26 PM: Entertaining question from snailtrail12 about when I'll be racing against Danica. I'm fairly certain I couldn't make it once around the track without wrecking. But I would be up for a wheelbarrow or egg-on-spoon race. Your move, Danica.
1:24 PM: Prerace poll: If Danica wins today, will she bump Jeremy Lin from his spot as the most-talked about athlete? And, more importantly, what mediocre puns can we make about her name?
1:20 PM: I know NASCAR is really great to their fans but dd they just pick a random fan to sing the National Anthem? I'm just going to go with that and not totally rag on his wardrobe choice. Thanks for dressing up there, buddy.
1:15 PM: Let's start this race with a prayer. That's not a question. That's what actually happens. In case I was confused that I wasn't still at the All-Star Game.
1:09 PM: Dale Jr. driving the TaxSlayer car today. I enjoy those commercials he does for them but I find it very hard to believe he does his own taxes. Still, much better than the 'Nape Know How' commercials that infiltrate your memory for hours at a a time. N-n-n-n-n-n-n-a-a-a-a-a-pppa know how. Napa know how.
1:05 PM: News quickly making the rounds with the media that Rick Santorum will be sponsoring Tony Raines' car tomorrow. No, I am not making this up. Apparently that 'NASCAR Dads' political demographic is real afterall. And nothing says winning like Tony Raines.
12:59 PM: Driver introductions are currently underway. In obvious news, people really like Dale Jr.
12:55 PM: Shawna Robinson just posted on her Facebook page, 'OK I've held it in long enough!!! IT's not that hard to qualify at Daytona or Talladega!!' So much for female empowerment. Does this remind anyone else of the Lil Kim-Nicki Minaj beef? No? No one.
12:52 PM: Have seen a number of people on Twitter credit conspiracy theories for Danica's pole win. Um. Don't you think if there was some giant NASCAR conspiracy, Dale Jr. would win a race?
12:47 PM: For those who have been living in a cave, Danica is the pole sitter for today's race. She's just the second female in history to win a Nationwide pole. Fun fact for all you non-race fans to impress the heck out of your friends: Shawna Robinson became the first female to win a Nationwide pole in 1994 at Atlanta. She finished the race in 36th place.
12:43 PM: Daytona has a distinct aroma drifting through the air that is the perfect mix of gasoline and fried food. I'm surprised no one has tried to bottle that and make it a perfume. If that's not the scent to a man's heart, I don't know what is.
12:40 PM: As always, let's make this blog as interactive as possible. Please send in your questions, comments, complaints, etc. to the 'comments' section or on Twitter (@darcymaine_espn). Also, because NASCAR is so unbelievably accessible, if you want to see something, let me know and I'll go find it. For example, if there's a wreck and you want to see how the car looks in the garage, I'll go take some pictures and post them on Twitter. Just say the word.
12:37 PM: Somehow, despite there being literally 100s of options, I still happened to be the lucky idiot to come within a foot of getting run over by Danica as she went for her practice run. I just can't seem to get the hang of this whole 'stay away from a moving race car' thing in a NASCAR garage. Too bad those engines aren't louder.
12:35 PM: Arrived at the track around 9:30 this morning to ensure plenty of time to follow around the people following Danica Patrick. Every news outlet in the Western Hemisphere seemed camped out around her garage. Even Dale Jr.'s crew looked jealous at the attention.
12:30 PM: Greetings from Daytona! For those of you who voted in my informal Twitter poll yesterday, you told me you wanted Danica Patrick coverage. So here I am. See how that works?