Tailgating: Matt Kenseth wins, but Brad Keselowski’s tweets steal the show in wildest Daytona 500 ever

Clarksville, TN – Matt Kenseth may have won the 54^th running of the Daytona 500, but make no mistake about it – Brad Keselowski was the real winner Monday night.

After the race was pushed back a day for the first time in the event’s history due to heavy rain Sunday, NASCAR officials made the decision to run the race during primetime Monday night.

And, for the first 159 laps of The Great American Race, it appeared as if NASCAR had hit a ratings gold mine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRTD4Qj6lM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

In fact, since I’m not sure words can even describe how wild it was, you should probably watch the video above.

As drivers pulled to a stop just shy of the carnage and got out of their cars to survey the damage, Keselowski did what anyone would do.

He took a picture and tweeted it to his 60,000 followers.

As members of the track crew worked feverishly to put out the 200 gallons of jet fuel, Keselowski whipped out his iPhone and documented the whole thing, snapping pics and interacting with fans for much of the two-plus hour delay.

As a result of his tweets, Keselowski picked up an eye-popping 140,000 new followers during the break.

140,000.

In less than two hours, Keselowski added the equivalent of the entire population of Clarksville Tennessee to his Twitter family.

Then, perhaps even more amazingly, Keselowski continued to tweet during the re-start during two of the race’s final three cautions.

And while some were joking online, (Why did Keselowski have his phone in his car in the first place? Was he tweeting and driving?) Keselowski and NASCAR officials were reaping the rewards of a brilliant PR move.

Before tonight, the casual sports fan probably could only name a few NASCAR drivers and the 28-year-old driver from Rochester Hills, Michigan was probably not one of them.

Ask the casual sports fan on Tuesday, and it’s safe to say they will have seen or heard about Keselowski and his tweets.

With such a high demand being placed on customer service and fan interaction, Keslowski got up close and personal with his followers – and he and NASCAR reaped the benefits.

So while Kenseth’s No. 17 car may have claimed victory at the ‘Super Bowl of NASCAR’, Keselowski (and ultimately NASCAR) emerged as the real winners Monday night.