It was a wild one filled with carnage throughout, leaving just 25 cars on the track when it was all said and done, with only 11 cars left on the lead lap. Austin Dillon would lead just one lap in the race, the final one.
Here’s the full story on how the 60th Annual Daytona 500 transpired at the World Center of Racing.
After winning the Pole, Alex Bowman in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet led the field to the drop of the green flag to get the 2018 Monster Energy Cup Series Season underway! Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota would pass Bowman on the backstretch and lead the first lap of the 60th Daytona 500.
Hamlin led the field through to the first caution of the race on lap 8. The yellow flag flew due to the No. 72 Schuleter Systems Chevrolet of Corey LaJoie blowing an engine and leaking fluid onto the track on the backstretch.
During the caution, disaster would strike for Hamlin as he slid just past his pit box and when he reversed, he didn’t get all the way inside his own box before his crew started fueling the car. NASCAR then served him a one-lap penalty. This put defending Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch in the No. 41 Monster Energy Hass Automation Ford in the lead as the field got back to green on lap 12.
Two laps later, Bowman in the No. 88 got back in the lead of the pack passing Busch in the No. 12. Shortly after, Kasey Kahne in the No. 95 Procure Chevrolet, who was running in 5th at the time, got shuffled and bumped out of the pack and down onto the apron coming out of turn 4. He would speed down pit road with nowhere else to go falling back all the way to 37th place.
The lead would again change hands on lap 23 as Erik Jones in the No. 20 DeWalt Chevrolet made the pass on Bowman in turn 3. Trouble would again strike for the 5th place driver on lap 29, at the time that was Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota. Busch had a tire go down and would be forced to pit under green, putting him a lap down and dropping him back to 38th place.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 Fastenal Ford took his first lead of the race on lap 33, with Joey Logano in the No. 22 Shell Penzzoil Ford following in a close 2nd. Stenhouse led until lap 45 when Chase Elliott in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet took his first lead of the race.
With Logano and Elliott battling for the lead, the 2nd caution came out. This time for Kyle Busch in the No. 18, who cut down a tire in turn three and as he went sideways, the No. 96 of DJ Kennington clipped the back of Busch, nearly completely tearing off the bumper of the no. 18. Jamie McMurray in the No. 1 McDonalds Chevrolet acquired some damage as well from the accident.
After the caution, Kurt Busch in the No. 41 was back in front with just 5 laps left in stage 1. On the final lap of stage one going into turn 3, a big one happened as Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 tried to make a move on Stenhouse Jr. in the No. 17 for 2nd place. Blaney got into the back of Stenhouse Jr., who then got loose and got into the No. 20 of Erik Jones who then got into Kyle Larson in the No. 42, who clipped the No. 19 of Suarez, who hit the outside wall hard. Collected in the carnage was Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48, whose car was destroyed. Ty Dillion in the No. 13 ran into Erik Jones in the No. 20 nose first taking Dillon out of the race. Others involved were William Byron in the No. 24, and Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78.
The wreck would end the stage with Kurt Busch in the No. 41 in the lead, winning the stage. The accident eliminated Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Daniel Suarez, and Ty Dillon.
As Stage two got underway, it was once again Alex Bowman in the No. 88 in the front of the pack 67 laps into the race. It would take just two laps before Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Menards Ford got his first taste of the lead.
Over the next 20 laps, Blaney would have his hands full with Paul Menard in the No. 21 and Bowman in the No. 88 continuously challenging him for the lead. Things stayed clean for most of the 2nd stage until lap 92 when Byron in the No. 24 got into the wall on the backstretch after cutting down a tire. A lap later the caution flag flew for debris on the track.
During the caution, most of the field pitted. However, Truex Jr. elected to stay out, giving him the lead, though not for long. The fresher tires of Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 would get the best of Truex Jr. on the 2nd lap after the restart, as Blaney made his way back to the front.
Battling for 2nd on lap 103, Chase Elliott in the No. 9 and Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford got into each other. Elliot slammed hard into the outside wall, spinning in a full 360 two times before getting hit by Kasey Kahne in the No. 95 and Danica Patrick in the No. 7 GoDaddy Chevrolet. Keselowski in the No. 2 came back up the track and collected Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Jimmie Johns Ford. Truex Jr. in the No. 78 and Michael McDowell in the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stop’s Ford were involved as well collecting minimal damage.
The field then got back to green with just 12 laps left in the stage and Blaney still out front in the No. 12. Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 would be sent to the garage just a lap into the green as the damage on his car was deemed unsafe by NASCAR due to missing metal on his driver-side door, thus ending his day.
As the field came to the green-white-checkered, to end stage 2, it was the No. 12 of Ryan Blaney in the front of the pack with Paul Menard in the No. 21 in a close 2nd.
During caution flag pitstops after the end of stage 2, a tire violation by the No. 78 team would force Truex Jr. to start at the back of the field on the restart. Blaney in the No. 12 was still out in front at the start of the final stage.
The drivers seemed to calm down a ton after stage two as the lines went from double and triple wide to single file racing throughout the first half of the final stage. With just 40 laps to go, Blaney in the No. 12 was still in the lead.
Kyle Busch in the No. 18 had to serve a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road during his green flag pit stop. At this point, Busch was four laps down back in 28th place with no chance of getting his first ever Daytona 500 win.
With just 30 laps to go in the race, most of the leaders came down pit road for stops under green. Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 stayed out and took over the lead. However, he would pit with 29 left in the race electing to take just two tires and fuel as he got back out on the track in the lead.
During green flag stop’s one of the contenders all day, Joey Logano in the No. 22 was served a penalty for speeding on pit road. This would cost Logano his position and drop him to 15th. Meanwhile, Blaney made the pass on Hamlin to retake the lead with just 27 laps left to go at Daytona.
After nearly 70 clean laps, the caution came out with just 10 to go as William Byron in the No. 24 blew-out a right front tire in turn four. This would set up a double-file shootout to the finish.
The green flag dropped with just seven laps to go and Ryan Blaney still leading the pack. As they made their way to the start-finish line, it was Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 in the lead by just 0.015 seconds on Kurt Busch in the No. 41.
Busch then made the pass of Hamlin for the lead, ahead of Aric Almirola in 2nd by just 0.121 seconds with 5 laps to go. Busch maintained the lead with 4 to go. Then it was Blaney back out in front with just 3 laps to go and Hamlin only 0.081 seconds back in 2nd.
Hamlin made the pass to get back in the lead with just 2 laps to go, with Kurt Busch in 2nd trailing by 0.099 seconds as the field came to the start-finish line. Then as they made their way around turn, one chaos ensued.
Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 got into the back of Kurt Busch in the No. 41. This caused Busch to go sideways, getting into Ricky Stenhouse in the No. 17 and the field stacked up in the carnage. Matthew DiBenedetto in the No. 32 The Hurricane Heist Ford along with Brendan Gaughan in the No. 62 Beard Oil Distributing South Point Hotel Chevrolet got stacked up behind Blaney. Bowman in the No. 88 was involved and got sent up the track backward into the outside wall. Other drivers involved were the No. 43 Click n’ Close Chevrolet of Darrell Wallace Jr., the No. 47 Kroger ClickList of AJ Allmendinger, the No. 31 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet of Ryan Newman, the No. 22 of Logano, and the No. 00 VRX Simulators Chevrolet of Jefferey Earnhardt.
This sent the race into NASCAR overtime with Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 in the lead with Aric Almirola in the No. 10 in 2nd. The green flag dropped, and it was a sprint to the finish.
On the final lap on the backstretch, as the field entered turn 3, Almirola was in the lead when Wallace Jr. in the No. 43 gave the No. 3 DOW Chevrolet of Austin Dillon a great push. Dillon took advantage of the push and went to the low line, the No. 10 of Almirola tried to block, but didn’t have the ground to do so. Dillion got into the back of Almirola, sending him into the wall.
As the field made their way through turn four, the green stayed out as Austin Dillon made his way across the start-finish line for the victory in the No. 3, 20 years after Dale Earnhardt Sr. won the Daytona 500 back in 1998. Austin Dillon was in victory lane when that happened since his grandfather, Richard Childress, was Earnhardt’s team owner.
Even more ironically, when Dale Sr. won the Daytona 500, it was his 20th attempt. 20 years later Dillon brings the No. 3 back to victory lane at Daytona.
Darrell Wallace Jr. in the No. 43 would finish in 2nd place as Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 battled Wallace Jr. nose to nose, finishing third just 0.002 seconds behind Wallace Jr.
Finishing fourth was Joey Logano in the No. 22, and rounding out the top 5 was Chris Buscher in the No. 37.
Full results from the 60th Annual Daytona 500 here.
The Monster Energy Cup Series drivers now switch their focus to Atlanta Motor Speedway where they will compete in the Folds of Honor 500 on Sunday February 25th.
