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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Through rain and wrecks, on Daytonas longest day, this was a drought Dale Earnhardt Jr. was determined to end. NASCARs most popular driver won the Daytona 500 on Sunday night for the second time — a decade after his first victory — to snap a 55-race losing streak dating to 2012. The victory ended a streak of futility at Daytona International Speedway, where he finished second in three of the previous four 500s. "Winning this race is the greatest feeling that you could feel in this sport besides accepting the trophy for the championship," said Earnhardt, who climbed from his car in Victory Lane and hugged every member of his Hendrick Motorsports crew. "I didnt know if Id ever get the chance to feel it again and it feels just as good." As he crossed the finish line in his No. 88 Chevrolet, the few who withstood a rain delay of 6 hours, 22 minutes screaming their support, Earnhardt euphorically radioed his crew, saying: "This is better than the first one!" He was met by Rick Hendrick after his victory lap, and the team owner climbed into the drivers window for a ride to Victory Lane. "The world is right right now — Dale Junior just won the Daytona 500," teammate Jeff Gordon said. "Thats a sign its going to be a great season." Rain stopped the race about 45 minutes after it began for a delay of more than six hours. When it resumed, Earnhardt dominated at the track where his father was killed in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 race. He led six times for a race-high 54 laps — all after the rain delay — and seemed to have it under control until things got chaotic near the end. There were 42 lead changes and four multi-car accidents as the field closed in on the checkered flag. An accident with seven laps to go triggered by pole-sitter Austin Dillon, driving the No. 3 — Earnhardts fathers number making its return to the Daytona 500 for the first time since 2001 — set up a final two-lap shootout to the finish. Earnhardt got a great jump past Brad Keselowski on the restart, and had Gordon behind him protecting his bumper. But Denny Hamlin came charging through the field and Earnhardt suddenly had a challenger with one lap to go. Then an accident farther back involving former winners Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray brought out the caution and the win belonged to Earnhardt. "We could fight off battle after battle. We got a little help at the end there from Jeff to get away on the restart," Earnhardt said. "This is amazing. I cant believe this is happening. I never take this for granted, man because it doesnt happen twice, let alone once." Hamlin was second in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, followed by Keselowski in a Team Penske Ford. Hendrick took fourth and fifth with Gordon and last years race winner, Jimmie Johnson, in what quickly became a company-wide celebration. "Hes been knocking on the door of the 500 for a lot of years. He got it done tonight — did an awesome job," said Johnson, who beat Earnhardt to the finish line a year ago. The win means Hendrick already has one of his four drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Under the new win-and-get-in format announced last month, Earnhardt is now eligible to race for the title and can spend the next 25 races preparing for the post-season. "We might be in the Chase — I aint going to worry about that," Earnhardt said from Victory Lane. "Trust me, man, were going to have a blast this year." Rain wreaked havoc on the event for the third time in six years, and this years race was stopped after 38 laps as a strong storm blew into the area. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in the area and advised people to take shelter, and fans fled from the grandstands. NASCAR rolled out the track drying system Air Titan for several failed attempts over the delay. It was the only on-track activity for more than six hours, but there was plenty of behind-the-scenes fun as drivers desperately tried to stay entertained. David Ragan made a pizza run in his firesuit, Hamlin played basketball, Clint Bowyer answered fans questions on Twitter and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.s crew practiced tornado drills. It hit absurd levels as Fox Sports tried to fill the air time with a replay of the 2013 race that hundreds of thousands did not understand wasnt a live broadcast. Social media exploded with congratulatory tweets for last years winner, Johnson, who posted on his account: "I hear I won the #Daytona500? Haha! I also have friends confused and texting congratulations to me." Fellow drivers had fun with the widespread error, too. "Wait a minute! Im confused, did @JimmieJohnson win or not?" Bowyer tweeted. Plenty of fans on Twitter were confused throughout the replay, tweeting along as if the race was live. Deadspin ran some of them under the headline, "Scores Of Idiots Dont Realize Fox Is Airing Last Years Daytona 500." Even NASCAR couldnt resist jokingly weighing in on the confusion. "Congrats @JimmieJohnson amazing," tweeted Steve ODonnell, NASCARs senior vice-president of racing operations. Piling onto the strange story line, Foxs rain-delayed coverage was sponsored by the movie "Noah," which opens March 28 and stars Russell Crowe as the title character who builds an arc to save creation from a massive flood. When the cars finally got back on track, Earnhardt took off. He had some challenges, particularly from the Roush Fenway Racing duo of Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, but he managed to break free every time it mattered. Kevin De Bruyne Jersey . The 49ers announced the deal Tuesday. San Francisco selected Lloyd in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. 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Next years tournament is also within sight for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has never played in a World Cup, but Cristiano Ronaldo looks destined for the playoffs with Portugal after a night when the qualifying picture in the nine groups became much clearer.CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw allowed two runs and six hits in five innings during Wednesday nights injury rehabilitation stint with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts. A 29-pitch first inning kept Kershaw from being dominant, but he still finished with nine strikeouts. "I would like to have gotten through six or seven innings, but I had a good time working with these guys," Kershaw said. "Its tough when pitch counts are in the back of your mind. Obviously the main goal of why I was here was to get my pitch count up and be ready for 100-plus pitches in the big leagues. "At the same time, youre trying to compete, too. Fortunately for me, I am kind of done with that and can go pitch now." Kershaw threw 86 pitches Wednesday after tossing 56 Friday during his first rehab stint at Rancho Cucamonga of the Class A California League, when he allowed two hits in five scoreless innings. He opened this season getting a win for the Dodgers over Arizona in Australia on March 22 but went on the disabled list for the first time in his career several days later with a strained upper back. "Ive learned I dont like it," Kershaw said of his DL stint. "As much as yyou try and be a part of this team, our team is playing right now while Im in Chattanooga.dddddddddddd Its a weird process for me, and you kind of feel isolated a little bit. Hopefully I never have to do it again." Kershaw said he feels healthy but didnt know when he would be joining his big-league teammates. John Andreoli drew a leadoff walk for the Smokies in the first inning, and Dustin Geiger drove in the first run off Kershaw with a two-out double to left. Geiger singled to left in the fifth inning to score Andreoli again. Kershaws appearance resulted in a sellout crowd of 6,318. "I think its pretty great for this city to get to see Clayton Kershaw, one of the great pitchers in the game doing a rehab assignment," Dodgers player development director DeJon Watson said. "Its a great opportunity for them to see our overall brand of baseball and having Clayton Kershaw as a model of what we do from an organizational standpoint. Were trying to get him in the best position to get him prepared to get him back in the big leagues, and coming here kind of worked out the best. "The competition level is pretty good here, and he was forced to execute good pitches in key counts." ' ' '