The 2011 Sprint Cup season is under way! The 53rd Great American Race was the perfect end cap for an impressive 2011 Speedweeks that culminated in victory for 20-year-old Trevor Bayne. Before the Daytona 500 started there were two major storylines, the first being could Dale Earnhardt Jr. come from the back to contend for the win (he did but got caught up in the record setting 16th caution of the day) and could Kurt Busch be the first driver to win three events during Speedweeks (he would finish fifth after leading 19 laps). During the race the tension kept building with every caution.

The Daytona 500 came down to two green-white-checkered starts, it was the second start when Bayne got a great jump with the help of Bobby Labonte to hold off the closing Carl Edwards and his tandem partner David Gilliland to win in only his second career start. This whole offseason all of us fans thought of ways to make the sport better, but all that needs to happen is for the on track action to get better and it will all take care of itself.

Trevor Bayne, Congratulations you have put your name in the record book and have brought back to victory lane one of the most respected ownership groups in NASCAR history.

Storyline that we will remember: Wood Brothers back in victory lane with Trevor Bayne’s pushing and then pulling off the upset.

Storyline that we will forget: Jimmie Johnson gets involved in accident on lap 28, crew gets car back out to finish 27th.

Quote of the Week: "How cool is it to see the Wood Brothers back in Victory Lane?"-Trevor Bayne.

Quote of the Week 2: "I think the world, is going to like him a lot."- Car Edwards talking about Trevor Bayne.

Power Rankings
(Rankings will be based off of who is running the best, with an emphasis on the last several races but having respect for the duration of the 36 race schedule)
1. Kurt Busch – Winner of Bud Shootout and Duel 2 of the Gatorade 150’s, Seemed to always be upfront during Speedweeks and finished fifth in the Great American Race.
2. Trevor Bayne – Winner of the Daytona 500.
3. Regan Smith- 2nd in Gatorade Duel 2 and 7th in the 500.
4. Carl Edwards- Finished second in the Great American Race.
5. David Gilliland-Stayed clean all day and pushed Edwards to the front on the last lap to get a third place finish.
6. Juan Pablo Montoya- Great beginning of the season for a team with Chase aspirations.
7. Bobby Labonte- When the crossed the line for the white flag he was second but Edwards and Gilliland made the move before he could and fell to fourth at the line.
8. Kyle Busch- Finished eighth after getting spun out early, something that a couple years ago might have caused him to push the issue and not finishing the race.
9. Paul Menard- Top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 and led four times for 11 laps
10. Mark Martin- The best finish out of all of the cars to get in the big one, finished 10th.

Driver of the Week: Trevor Bayne- Best back car in the two car tandem’s all week then made the best decision of his career when he slid down in front of Edwards on the final lap to lead the Wood Brothers back to victory.

Bad Decision of the Day: David Ragan-Leading the race tells the world that he wanted Bayne to slow up so he could get in front of him for the green-white-checkered. Moved down before the start finish line and gets black flagged, cost himself a chance of a win and finished 14th.

Stat of the Week: 74 lead changes that involved over half of the field.

Let me know if you disagree with my rankings or awards and think I missed a big part of the race.

Contact Thomas via twitter @thomaseharris.

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