Daytona draws 36.5 million viewers

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Want to capture the nation's attention? Try a giant fireball.

It certainly worked for NASCAR, which salvaged its marquee event despite the first ever rainout in 54 runnings of The Great American Race.

The first primetime Daytona 500 in NASCAR history was a win for Fox - its highest-rated Monday night audience since Game 5 of the 2010 World Series - with 36.5 million viewers, up 22 percent from 30 million last year.

And NASCAR surprisingly continued its momentum from last season, partly because of the freak crash in which Juan Pablo Montoya's car hit a truck loaded with jet fuel, injuring no one but scorching the track and forcing a two-hour delay.

If there was any doubt NASCAR successfully reached a mainstream audience, sports talk radio personality Jim Rome dispelled it Tuesday afternoon when he said the race was more entertaining than any Monday night NFL game last season.

Rome was particularly fascinated by track workers using laundry detergent to clean up the fuel fire.

"Dudes needed to hit that track with some Tide, make it smell April-fresh," Rome said on air. "We're talking NASCAR, like it or not."

Things certainly didn't seem to be headed toward a successful show on Sunday when a steady rain at Daytona International Speedway washed out NASCAR's version of the Super Bowl.

"NASCAR just can't catch a break," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "We're trying to deliver, and we just have some unfortunate things happen such as the rain delay, potholes in the track a couple of years ago. We're a good sport, and we're trying to give a good product."

Lost in all the non-racing storylines was a second Daytona 500 title for Matt Kenseth, who held off Earnhardt and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle over a two-lap overtime finish in a race that was scheduled to begin Sunday afternoon but ended in the early morning hours Tuesday.

But it was driver Brad Keselowski who stole the spotlight - after he grabbed it with both thumbs.

NASCAR is an active social community, and its stars have been good about engaging with fans. But Keselowski took it to another level with his live tweeting, which was featured prominently in the telecast and kept fans informed during the stoppage.

He started the race with roughly 65,000 followers and his phone in his race car, intent on finding an opportunity to use it.

It came during the fire, when he was able to tweet pictures, answer fans and entertain the drivers surrounding him and his phone as they waited on the backstretch during the delay. By the time the drivers got back into their cars, Keselowski's followers had swollen to more than 200,000. It earned Keselowski a prime spot Tuesday on CNN.com's Tech page and had the sports world abuzz .