The NASCAR Cup Series wrapped up Speedweeks with the Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon. Alex Bowman won the pole during qualifying Wednesday night, with William Byron starting second. He would have to go to the rear of the field in a backup car after being involved in a second dual race crash. Byron would join nine others in the back.
The first caution of the day would come out four laps in when veteran driver and 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope cut a tire that sent him to the outside wall ending his day. The race resumed on the eighth lap. The second caution was out when Kyle Busch pushed Christopher Bell, who then got Aric Almirola loose on the sixteenth lap. Almirola then went sideways, hitting Bowman, which started the first significant wreck. A total of fifteen cars were involved in the wreck. Some of them were able to continue, while others were parked in the garage.
CRASH! Multiple contenders are collected in this early accident in the #DAYTONA500. pic.twitter.com/qZro3YXsTj — NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 14, 2021
Not long after the caution, the cars were brought down pit road for lightning in the area. Mother Nature opened the skies, and rain began to fall on the track, putting the race under red flag conditions. After a five hour and forty-minute delay, the red flag was lifted, and the race resumed after 9 pm. Crews went to work on the cars involved in the earlier accident while others went to pit road to add fuel or tires. The caution ran about fourteen laps as track dryers were still drying certain wet spots on the track. The race would resume on lap 30.
Eight laps into the restart, the caution would come out again for the third time involving Quin Houff and Chase Briscoe at turn one. Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski were on the front for the restart on lap 43. Hamlin remained out in front for the rest of the stage. He did have a challenger in Ryan Preece but was able to hold on to win stage one.
After the teams went to pit road, stage two got underway on lap 71. During stage two, the Gibbs cars of Hamlin, Bell, and Kyle Busch were running one, two, three. Twenty laps later, teams began to head to pit road by manufacturers. On lap 104, all of the Ford’s pitted together, followed by the Toyota’s on lap 107, and the Chevrolet’s went on lap 109. Once the pit stops were complete, Hamlin resumed the lead.
One lap after Hamlin regained the lead, his teammate Christopher Bell cut a tire down that sent him brushing Bubba Wallace before hitting Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Four other cars were involved in the crash. The other drivers involved in the wreck were Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Kaz Grala, and Corey LaJoie. Luckily, all of the drivers involved were able to continue the race.
Six cars stayed out during the caution while everyone else pitted. The race resumed on lap 118 with Denny Hamlin still in the lead. In the last twelve laps, Hamlin and Harvick were battling for the lead. Bubba Wallace gave Hamlin a push that helped Hamlin win stage two.
All of the cars went to pit road during the caution, with Austin Dillon beating Denny Hamlin to take over the top spot. The final stage resumed on lap 137. Hamlin would get the lead back a lap later; however, he had Harvick right behind him, looking to get the lead from him. In this final stage, teams were running in single file. No one made a move to try to advance their position. On lap 170, the last pit stops cycles took place with Ford’s going first, followed by Chevrolet’s on lap 171, and Toyota’s on lap 173. Once the pit cycles were done, Joey Logano was the new leader.
For fifteen laps, teams remained in a single file lane. The tension was building as to who was going to make a move and when. With ten laps to go, the Chevrolet’s of Ryan Preece, Kurt Busch, and Ross Chastain pulled out of line to make a run, but no one went with them, and they quickly fell behind. The top ten cars remained in single file. On the last lap, Brad Keselowski got a push from Michael McDowell, who then tried to go to the bottom. Joey Logano took too long to apply the block, and when he did, it caused the last major wreck of the race. The caution came out shortly after the crash. After the NASCAR officials were reviewing who the leader was when the caution came out, they determined that Michael McDowell was the leader and won the Daytona 500, beating Chase Elliott.
Take a look at the accident that brought out the caution flag at the end of the #DAYTONA500. pic.twitter.com/M7AUZJ1c1C — NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 15, 2021
McDowell made his 358th career start in the Cup Series. He became the eighth driver in NASCAR history to earn his first career win at the Daytona 500, joining Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994), Michael Waltrip (2001), and Trevor Bayne (2011).
The rest of the top ten finishers were Austin Dillon third, Kevin Harvick fourth, Denny Hamlin fifth, Ryan Preece sixth, Ross Chastain seventh, Jamie McMurray eighth, Cory LaJoie ninth, and Kyle Larson tenth. There were 22 lead changes, seven cautions for forty laps, and Denny Hamlin led the most laps with 98.
The Cup Series will return to Daytona next Sunday, February 21st, on the road course at 3 pm on FOX.
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