Jimmie Johnson knows the routine -- win at Daytona and the congratulatory messages start pouring in.

That’s what happened when he won the 500 and the summer 400 last year. And it started happening again Sunday as well.

One problem, though. He didn’t win.

The Daytona 500 wasn’t even over when the tweets and texts started coming in from people who thought Johnson had become only the second driver ever to win three Sprint Cup races in a row at Daytona International Speedway.


The race was in the midst of a 6 1/2-hour rain delay due to severe thunderstorms, and Fox Sports was filling some of the airtime by running a replay of last year’s Daytona 500.

Even though there was a constant crawler at the bottom of the screen reminding viewers they were watching the 2013 race, many confused fans thought they were watching Johnson make history.

Johnson took to Twitter to help clear up the confusion.

I hear I won the #Daytona500? Haha! I also have friends confused and texting congratulations to me. #2013Replay— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) February 23, 2014


Even Fox News sent out an alert (since deleted) on Facebook: “Just in: Jimmie Johnson wins the Daytona 500 for the third time in his career. He previously won in 2013 and 2006.”

The network later corrected its mistake, also on Facebook: “This evening, we erroneously reported on the Fox News Facebook page that Jimmie Johnson had won this year’s Daytona 500 race. We sincerely apologize to our viewers and readers for this inaccurate report.”

After the real race restarted, Johnson eventually finished fifth after going back and forth with winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.