Kenseth survives fire and rain to win Daytona 500

Matt Kenseth won the Daytona 500 race on Monday, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr on the final lap of a heavily delayed and incident-packed race.

Kenseth was helped by Ford team mate Greg Biffle, who helped slow down Earnhardt before crossing the line third in the NASCAR season opener.

The victory was Kenseth`s second in the race following his 2009 triumph.

The race was postponed from Sunday due to rain and then for a further seven hours on Monday and finished at almost 1 a.m. local time.

A spectacular fire, when Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya hit a jet-dryer truck causing a large explosion, resulted in a two-hour five minute delay while the course was cleared for the final 40 laps.