DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Regan Smith had the checkered flag in sight at Daytona a year ago and a freight train of cars in his rearview mirror. He moved high to throw a block on Brad Keselowski and it backfired badly. The desperate attempt to preserve the win triggered a 12-car accident, Kyle Larsons car sailed into the fence and debris from the wreck injured nearly 30 fans. It was a racing accident, nobodys fault. But Smith was racked with guilt. So it was sweet redemption Saturday when he nipped Keselowski at the finish line to win the Nationwide Series opener — finally, a year later — at Daytona International Speedway. "I think it hurt him deeply that the fans were involved in the accident," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who along sister, Kelley and Rick Hendrick owns the JR Motorsports Chevrolet that Smith drove to victory. "I think that he personally and privately (bore) some responsibility for his involvement in the crash, just being in the crash, to have someone in the grandstands get hurt had to affect him tremendously. That was definitely probably one of the toughest things he went through personally as a driver." Smith said he went to dinner with Earnhardt after the accident and leaned on his boss. "Im fortunate that Ive got a boss who has been in a lot of different situations in this sport and understands a lot of different things over the years in Dale," Smith said. "He just basically said Youve got to shake it off, its racing and no fault of anybody. Circumstances sometimes happen. He offered up a lot of good advice in that situation. It did bother me. Id be lying if I said I didnt." Nothing bothered Smith on Saturday. He beat Keselowski by 0.013 for the second-closest finish at Daytona International Speedway and seventh closest in series history. It was the 300th victory for the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop. Keselowski said last years crash-marred finish never entered his mind as he plotted his strategy over the closing laps. Smith and Keselowski raced side-by-side at the front of the pack over the final two overtime laps. They were door-to-door exiting the final turn and Smith edged him at the line. "Im not that smart and Ive got a terrible memory," Keselowski said of not worrying about a repeat of last year. Trevor Bayne finished third, followed by Kyle Busch, winner of Friday nights Truck Series race, and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Elliott Sadler. Brendan Gaughan was sixth and followed by Ty Dillon. Earnhardt Jr., who was 11th, ran into the back of Joe Nemechek after the finish. He said he was being pushed by Kyle Larson and traffic slowed too quickly. It caused heavy damage to Nemechek and Ryan Siegs cars that Earnhardt said hed pay to repair. "We were slowing down. I was looking all around trying to figure out where everybody was at," he said. "Totally my fault. Really wasnt paying attention. I hate it for Joe and those guys cause they dont need to be tearing up race cars." NASCAR issued its first drafting penalty of the season 86 laps into race when James Buescher was called for push-drafting Keselowski. Bueschers car seemed to be under the rear of Keselowskis car for several seconds, which violates NASCARs ban on drafting. NASCAR vice-president of competition Robin Pemberton said the penalty was called because Buescher appeared to be the aggressor regardless of what the television angle showed. Keselowski said the penalty "set the tone for the rest of the race as far as what guys were looking at for driving their cars." Mike Wagner Jersey . The San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders are giving it a try, too. Benny Snell Jr. Youth Jersey . Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane came up big when it counted, tallying two goals and an assist. 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Louis Blues were workmanlike, methodical and -- most of all -- effective on Monday night.TORONTO -- Ryerson University is taking action against its mens hockey team for violating the student-athlete code of conduct. The university announced on Monday that it had suspended the team for seven days for "the consumption of alcohol" on their recent pre-season road trip to New Jersey. Ryerson also announced that head coach Graham Wise has been suspended for four games. "The University takess incidents of misbehaviour seriously and student-athletes and coaches are well aware of the behaviour expected of them," Ryerson said in a release.dddddddddddd The team will forfeit their next two games -- against the University of Ontario Institute of Technology on Thursday, and against Queens on Saturday -- before returning to the ice on Nov. 15 against the Royal Military College of Canada. ' ' '