Kenseth wins at Daytona

Exhibition marred by crashes; Logano and Harvick argue.

Matt Kenseth won the exhibition Sprint Unlimited, a crash-filled kickoff to the NASCAR season Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Kenseth, who was winless in 2014, had one of the strongest cars in the field, and he pulled away in his Toyota on a restart with four laps remaining to claim victory.

Martin Truex Jr. finished second and Carl Edwards, in his debut race for Joe Gibbs Racing, was third.

Reigning NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick exchanged cross words with Joey Logano after the race. Harvick, upset with Logano for how he pushed Harvick’s car in the final laps, spoke with Logano on pit road while wearing his helmet.

The race had two red flags to clean up debris from multi-car accidents, and there were only 12 cars running at the end from a field of 25.

ARCA race goes to Enfinger again: Grant Enfinger won the ARCA Series race at Daytona International Speedway for the second straight season.

Enfinger led the most laps and raced to his ninth career victory in the stock car series. He went back-to-back at Daytona International Speedway with two different teams.

He won last season with Team BCR Racing and was in the No. 23 Chevrolet on Saturday for GMS Racing.

Joe Gibbs Racing developmental driver Daniel Suarez was second.

Brett Hudson, Cody Coughlin and Frank Kimmel rounded out the top five.

Kimmel, ARCA’s career victory leader with 80, was briefly trapped on the pits after an accident with the gas can forced a crew member to strip off his fire suit.

Bobby Gerhart was never a factor following a three-car crash that ended his bid to win for the ninth time on the 2.5-mile superspeedway. He finished 39th.

Wooing new sponsor: Sprint will not sponsor the Cup Series once its contract runs out following the 2016 season. That means it’s an important time for the sport to showcase its value to land another lucrative deal.

The new Chase format is geared toward engaging more fans and creating more interest, and this is certainly a critical time for the long-term stability of the sport.

“Right now, this has to be the most enticing sponsorship opportunity in the world of sports marketing,” said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage.

“You can’t put your name on the NFL or NBA, but you can on NASCAR racing.

“I don’t think they’re going to have a hard time finding a sponsor; it’s just a matter of finding the right one. It’s very much wide open.”

“American Idol” winner to sing anthem: Former “American Idol” winner Phillip Phillips will sing the national anthem before next Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Phillips will join singer Kid Rock and actor Vince Vaughn as prerace entertainment for NASCAR’s opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Kid Rock will perform a prerace concert in the infield, and Vaughn will serve as grand marshal and give the command to start engines.

Less speed? NASCAR made several changes to Cup cars this year, such as lowering the spoilers and introducing tapered spacers that in part cut horsepower from 850 to 725.

So, yes, an experienced fan will likely notice lower speeds down the straightaways.

But the speed lost on the straightaway could be made up on the turns because of a new, softer tire developed by Goodyear.

Today’s games