Fox News reported the tape-delayed 2013 Daytona 500 playing on Fox as if it were live

During the six-plus hour rain delay of the 2014 Daytona 500, Fox re-ran the 2013 edition of the race. This led to some hysterical mistakes, as dozens if not hundreds of people assumed they were watching the actual race. (Fox didn't help matters by not clearly identifying the rain-delay nature of the race for much of the telecast.) This tweet really summed up all the mistakes:

And when Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line on the replay, well, plenty of people assumed that he'd just won the race:

Well, you can understand that, right? People not paying much attention to a race would assume Jimmie had won. But the problem was that legitimate news organizations, including ESPNW, misunderstood the point too. And then there was this beauty ... remember, the race was broadcast on Fox:

The Fox News gaffe initially seemed like a fake, until later, when the following showed up on the actual Fox News Facebook page:

Yeah. Look, everybody makes mistakes. It happens. And, of course, the Fox News Facebook page is full of followers applauding Fox News for taking responsibility for its error. One wonders, of course, whether Fox News and its devotees, who take such delight in pointing out the errors of a certain segment of the political spectrum, would be quite so forgiving of such a mistake from the other side of the aisle.

Anyway, the lesson is clear: don't ever believe anything you see on TV, even on your own stations.

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Jay Busbee

is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter.

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