NEW YORK (AP) -Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray says that before the race was delayed Sunday to fix a pothole he didn't even know there was a problem with the track.

"I didn't see (the pothole) on the track, honestly I thought it was a piece of rubber," said McMurray during a victory lap lunch in New York on Tuesday. "The way the track was shaded, you couldn't tell there was a hole there."

After two delays to fix the pothole - taking more than two hours in total - McMurray held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. in NASCAR's version of overtime, a "green-white-checker" finish, to win his first Daytona 500.