It’s one long day at Daytona 500

Those who stayed through more than two hours of red flags and waited as the Daytona 500 paused unpleasantly were treated to another breathtaking finish in the Great American Race.

It ended with drama and without a massive wreck. There were blocks, and pushes and the sport’s favorite son zooming his way through the field going from 10th place to second on the second green-white-checkered restart. It was everything NASCAR wanted from its new rules package.

The race just took a while to get there.

One year after the season-opening race ended under a rain caution, a pothole in Turn 2 caused two red-flag stops that delayed the race for more than two hours. Jamie McMurray won the 52nd running of the Daytona 500, then knelt on the grass painted with the words “Daytona 500” and pounded his fists on it.

The 500-mile race ended more than six hours after it began.

“It is unbelievable, really,” McMurray said. “I can’t explain it. It is a dream, I mean it really is. . . . I certainly thank the fans that stuck around.”

For a second year in a row, weather affected the season opener, but this year in a very different way.

After a problem-free first half of the race, a piece of the track lifted in Turn 2 with about 85 laps to go.

“We’re the world center of racing,” Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig said. “This is the Daytona 500. This is not supposed to happen.”

Driving through the pothole about a foot in diameter and two inches deep damaged cars. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 100 minutes 45 seconds to repair the track.

But after days of being hammered by rain -- Friday’s track activities were rained out -- and unusual freezing temperatures overnight, repairing the track became more difficult. The material the speedway used didn’t hold on the first try and NASCAR called a competition caution on Lap 162 to try again. That red flag lasted nearly 45 minutes.

“I’ve been wanting them to repave it for years,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said during the second red flag. “If they repaved it years ago when I first asked them to, it would be just right now. Wouldn’t it? It would be weathered and we’d be having the race of our lives.”

NASCAR restarted the race on Lap 168 and ran it through the end. With bump-drafting restrictions lifted and drivers told they would be allowed to police themselves on the track, many felt free to push the limits.

NASCAR also changed its green-white-checkered finish rules last week. Instead of one attempt at a green-flag finish, the race could take three.

On the first attempt at a green-white-checkered, Jeff Gordon bumped Kasey Kahne after being hit from behind and a four-car crash ensued.

On the second, Earnhardt, starting 10th, kept his head down, found holes where he could and pushed as hard as he could through the field. Then he looked up to survey the track.

“I looked up and said there’s just one car in front of me,” he said. “Jamie’s gonna win this . . . race.”

McMurray’s reaction was different. An Earnhardt in his mirror wasn’t exactly comforting.

“I looked in my mirror and saw the 88,” McMurray said. “This guy has won a lot of races here and his family. I believe everything happens for a reason. I was like, I hope this isn’t his turn to win the Daytona 500. I hope it’s mine.”

In a race with 52 lead changes, the third-most in a Daytona 500, McMurray led only once. It was his time.

“I kept trying to compose myself and I couldn’t get it back,” McMurray said of his tears in Victory Lane.

McMurray lost his ride last season, the odd man out at Roush Fenway Racing, and is driving for Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

“It just means so much for me to be in the position that I was four, five months ago. To have Chip and Felix . . . welcoming me into the organization. It means a lot.”

tganguli@ orlandosentinel.com