Written by Adrian Beecher
Daytona, FL – The No. 18 machine of Kyle Busch took the lead over on lap 37 for the 2nd time of the day on his way to a stage 1 victory. Busch started back in 31st after an issue getting spun during the Duels at Dayton on Thursday.
Things were pretty quiet early on with only one caution coming out for a flat tire right drivers side tire went down and destroyed some of the sheet metal of the car on the No. 32 of Corey Lajoie.
On lap 49, the caution came out again as Kurt Busch in the No. 1 looked to pull in front of the No. 17 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but was unable to complete the pass as the air-compressed around the cars and Busch took a spin. Bubba Wallace slammed into the back of Busch as Wallace was pushed by the No. 31 of Tyler Reddick. Jammie McMurry in the No. 40 slammed in the No. 43 of Wallace, sending him for a spin.
Out of the caution, Busch was in the lead, with Hamlin in the 2nd position. On the final lap of the stage, Joey Logano was looking to make a run, but Busch moved up the track to block and Alex Bowman in the No. 88 took the 2nd position as the green-white-checkered flag flew.
Here is the full stage 1 results.
| POS | DRIVER | MFG | START | LAPS | LED | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | #18 Kyle Busch | Toyota | 31 | 60 | 27 | 197.269 | 45.623 | Leader |
| 2 | #88 Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 2 | 60 | 0 | 197.611 | 45.544 | 0.091 |
| 3 | #22 Joey Logano | Ford | 4 | 60 | 0 | 198.408 | 45.361 | 0.184 |
| 4 | #41 Daniel Suarez | Ford | 23 | 60 | 0 | 198.618 | 45.313 | 0.266 |
| 5 | #12 Ryan Blaney | Ford | 14 | 60 | 0 | 198.711 | 45.292 | 0.377 |
| 6 | #11 Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 10 | 60 | 0 | 195.857 | 45.952 | 0.413 |
| 7 | #9 Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 18 | 60 | 0 | 199.411 | 45.133 | 0.479 |
| 8 | #42 Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 26 | 60 | 0 | 199.893 | 45.024 | 0.522 |
| 9 | #4 Kevin Harvick | Ford | 3 | 60 | 0 | 200.044 | 44.99 | 0.595 |
| 10 | #20 Erik Jones | Toyota | 28 | 60 | 0 | 195.61 | 46.01 | 0.652 |
| 11 | #8 Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 29 | 60 | 0 | 200.808 | 44.819 | 0.714 |
| 12 | #17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 5 | 60 | 16 | 197.481 | 45.574 | 0.754 |
| 13 | #24 William Byron | Chevrolet | 1 | 60 | 3 | 195.304 | 46.082 | 0.804 |
| 14 | #10 Aric Almirola | Ford | 8 | 60 | 0 | 199.592 | 45.092 | 0.854 |
| 15 | #38 David Ragan | Ford | 24 | 60 | 0 | 197.394 | 45.594 | 0.92 |
| 16 | #2 Brad Keselowski | Ford | 35 | 60 | 0 | 199.924 | 45.017 | 1.002 |
| 17 | #48 Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 17 | 60 | 0 | 193.561 | 46.497 | 2.292 |
| 18 | #21 Paul Menard | Ford | 7 | 60 | 0 | 197.841 | 45.491 | 2.504 |
| 19 | #34 Michael McDowell | Ford | 34 | 60 | 0 | 198.496 | 45.341 | 2.684 |
| 20 | #14 Clint Bowyer | Ford | 6 | 60 | 0 | 198.785 | 45.275 | 2.961 |
| 21 | #6 Ryan Newman | Ford | 19 | 60 | 0 | 197.65 | 45.535 | 3.462 |
| 22 | #47 Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 21 | 60 | 0 | 196.919 | 45.704 | 3.816 |
| 23 | #36 Matt Tifft | Ford | 33 | 60 | 0 | 185.41 | 48.541 | 6.804 |
| 24 | #95 Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 9 | 60 | 15 | 186.416 | 48.279 | 13.581 |
| 25 | #3 Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 20 | 60 | 0 | 181.866 | 49.487 | 15.719 |
| 26 | #00 Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 27 | 60 | 0 | 184.136 | 48.877 | 18.371 |
| 27 | #40 Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 16 | 60 | 0 | 183.535 | 49.037 | 18.712 |
| 28 | #62 Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 30 | 60 | 0 | 182.752 | 49.247 | 19.028 |
| 29 | #13 Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 22 | 60 | 0 | 181.693 | 49.534 | 19.291 |
| 30 | #19 Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 11 | 60 | 0 | 181.84 | 49.494 | 19.451 |
| 31 | #27 Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 40 | 60 | 0 | 180.781 | 49.784 | 20.007 |
| 32 | #31 Tyler Reddick | Chevrolet | 39 | 60 | 0 | 181.294 | 49.643 | 20.294 |
| 33 | #37 Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 15 | 60 | 0 | 179.727 | 50.076 | 20.966 |
| 34 | #96 Parker Kligerman | Toyota | 25 | 60 | 0 | 179.702 | 50.083 | 21.344 |
| 35 | #15 Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 36 | 60 | 0 | 179.04 | 50.268 | 25.054 |
| 36 | #51 BJ McLeod | Chevrolet | 38 | 60 | 0 | 176.35 | 51.035 | 30.768 |
| 37 | #52 Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 37 | 60 | 0 | 173.364 | 51.914 | 31.775 |
| 38 | #1 Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 12 | 59 | 0 | 190.206 | 47.317 | 1 lap |
| 39 | #43 Bubba Wallace | Chevrolet | 13 | 57 | 0 | 174.155 | 51.678 | 3 laps |
| 40 | #32 Corey Lajoie | Ford | 32 | 56 | 0 | 186.455 | 48.269 | 4 laps |
