Daytona 500 starts with cheating and ends in controversy.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Harvick beat Mark Martin by a fender for the win in the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick also won Saturday's Busch race. It was Martin's 23rd attempt to win the race but he fell a little bit short after a few crashes in the last laps of the race that took out the car that was helping to push him to a win. Martin like most fans were waiting for the caution flag to be waved from the crash that would of froze the field giving him the win. But it didn't come until the leaders crossed the finish line. The cars behind the wreck weren't warned of the crash until 10 - 20 seconds after the accident happened.

NASCAR rules are constantly changing. Five teams were busted for breaking the rules during Speedweeks -- including two-time winner Michael Waltrip, who broke the NASCAR code by tampering with his fuel before qualifying and humiliated Toyota in its Nextel Cup debut. The yellow flag rule and the last lap rule also came into play on Sunday.

Martin was leading the race after a wreck happened near the end of the race. A red flag was thrown with three laps to go. After the restart two laps went by with Martin leading the way. On the last lap the white flag was thrown and it looked like Martin would get his first win. Martin was driving using the mirror to keep the competitors behind him leaving no openings for them to pass. A few rows back cars started to bump and spin out including his pusher car that was helping to keep him in front. The yellow flag wasn't thrown until the two leaders crossed the finish line. The controversy arises because Harvicks car leaped forward four or five cars to get side by side with Martin after the cars crashed behind them. The yellow flag was delayed and not thrown right away.

The race to the flag rule was changed so fans wouldn't watch races finish under a yellow flag. This was the reason for the red flag and a 3 lap race to the finish. The yellow flag crash rule was introduced for safety reasons so drivers would not keep racing when there was a crash. In the past they would race to the line to set the position even if cars were crashed in front of them. This became very dangerous as they dodged out parts and cars to beat the cars next to them to the finish line. Some drivers would step on the gas and drive through wrecks. After a few hit other cars at full speed they were forced to change the rules. Now soon as a crash happens they throw the yellow fag and everyone has to let off the gas and the field positions are frozen as they are.

This wasn't the case for the 500. The leaders were in front of the cars that crashed in the middle of the pact but the yellow flag wasn;t thrown right away when the crash happened. The cars in back of the crash were not warned to slow down because the yellow flag was delayed by 20 -30 seconds until the leaders crossed the finish line.

The race officially ended under caution because after the winners crossed the finish line under the green the yellow flag was thrown for the rest of the field. This is what makes it so controversal as to why they even threw out the yellow flag at all. If there was a caution it should have been thrown at the time of the wreck and when they seen it happen. Maybe NASCAR didn't see the wreck happen. NASCAR took a while to declare Harvick the winner as it was close to a photo finish.

Martin finished second, followed by Jeff Burton, Harvick's teammate, and Mike Wallace, who raced his way into the 500. Fifth place was rookie David Ragan who replace Martins previous ride. After 19 seasons Martin left Roush Racing to run for Ginn Racing owned by a Florida land developer.