Written by Michael Hull
DAYTONA, FL- A day that was started with country superstar Jake Owen, 3-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year JJ Watt and Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman ended with Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 FedEx car in victory lane at the 61st annual running of the Daytona 500. It is his second time winning the Daytona 500, the first being a photo finish back in 2016. This year’s 207 lap marathon was a wild race from start to finish, with numerous lead changes and three crashes in the last 10 laps alone.
“It’s amazing,” Hamlin said after the victory. “A great day overall for our race team, it’s just the greatest day.”
Stage one began with a back and forth fight between Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the No. 17 car and No. 24 William Byron sparred over the first few laps. Then, No. 95 Matt DiBenedetto took control and led for 15 laps until the first caution of the day, where No. 32 Corey Lajoie’s front right side was torn up. Coming out of that, No. 4 Kevin Harvick led the field, followed by Stenhouse Jr.. Stenhouse Jr. would quickly take the lead and hold for 15 laps, until he was passed by Kyle Busch in the No. 18 car. Another caution flag came out a few laps later as a result of a wreck in turn two. The wreck was caused by possible contact between Stenhouse Jr and Kurt Busch, and involved Busch, No. 40 Jamie McMurray and No. 43 Bubba Wallace. Busch was able to hold the lead for the remainder of Stage one and win it. Alex Bowman in the No. 88 car finished second and No. 22 Joey Logano finished third after a late push.
Lagano held the lead at the start of Stage two. He did not give up the lead until he went into pit road on lap 74 and No. 8 Daniel Hemric took over the lead. He quickly lost it, and DiBenedetto retook the top spot. 100 laps into it, DiBenedetto held the lead, with Kyle Busch and Bowman rounding out the top three. Busch took the lead after a caution on lap 106, and by the time the race went green again, No. 17 Ryan Blaney held the top spot. He was able to hold onto the lead and win stage two, followed by Byron and No. 10 Aric Almirola in the top three.
Byron took the lead to start stage three and held on uncontested for the first 20 laps. Jimmie Johnson in his iconic No. 48 car then challenged him for the lead and they spared back and forth while Stenhouse Jr snuck up on both of them. Then, with just 40 laps to go, a crash on pit road brought out the caution once again. Both Johnson and Stenhouse were involved in the crash and the majority of the leaders took advantage of the wreck to go into the pits. Byron’s poor stop left him all the way down in 18th on the restart and McMurray held the lead. Hamlin quickly took the lead from McMurray though, and he held it until another caution on lap 174 due to debris on the track. Hamlin stayed in the lead coming out of that caution, and stayed in it until the eighth caution of the afternoon. This time it was No. 42 Kyle Larson and the left rear side of his car causing the caution. The green was waved again, but another caution flag came out after No. 2 Brad Keselowski spun out in turn four. Hamlin still held the lead coming out of the ninth caution of the day with 10 laps remaining. Not even a lap after the restart, a red flag had to be waived after a serious wreck in turn three. Sparks ignited on the track during the crash that featured a total of 18 drivers, including DiBenedetto, No. 38 David Ragan, No. 21 Paul Menard, No. 3 Austin Dillon, Johnson, Almirola, and Byron. All of the drivers were able to get out of their cars safely.
“That is a product of speedway racing, pushing and being that aggressive at the end of a race,” Ragan said about the crash. “That is just the way it is. Unfortunate that we were in the wrong place at the right time but we were up in the top-10, where we need to be to try to win the race and sometimes things just don’t fall your way.”
“Everyone just was wanting to go and you can’t blame ’em,” Blaney said. “Everyone wants to win this race. That stuff just happens.”
After the long 24 minute, 57-second delay, Busch held the lead, followed by Hamlin and No. 14 Clint Bowyer.
Just a half lap after the green flag was waved again, there was yet another wreck. The wreck involved multiple cars, but No. 47 Ryan Preece was able to avoid the wreckage after some incredible driving. Busch still held the lead, followed by Hamlin and McDowell, with just three laps to go. Another wreck happened on turn three during lap 198, taking out more cars, including Bowyer this time.
The wreck caused the second red flag of the evening and it lasted 14 minute and 41 seconds. Coming off the start, Hamlin had the lead and never looked back, fighting off Busch and No. 20 Erik Jones to win the 61st Daytona 500. The top three drivers were all from Joe Gibbs Racing, making it the first time that the podium was swept by a single racing company at Daytona since 2000.
“I’m gonna have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but I’m going to enjoy it the rest of my life,” Hamlin said.
With this win, Hamlin punches his ticket to the Monster Energy Cup playoffs and etches his name in history. The rest of the field will have another shot at the playoffs next week in Atlanta.
(Photo Credit: Chris Tello / The SkyBoat)
