Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Insider
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won a wild and unpredictable Daytona 500 on Sunday night, in a race marred by a series of late crashes that took the event into two overtimes.
Stenhouse won The Great American race due to his slight lead over Joey Logano as a final warning flag went out, to cap the undisputed highlight of his career.
There could hardly have been more drama, especially in the closing stages, but Stenhouse took advantage of his opportunity at the right time, having run steadily all day after qualifying in 31st.
Stenhouse’s victory was the third of his NASCAR Cup Series career and his first in six years (with a 199-race winless streak), but he was not considered a likely winner. Still, this run can be guaranteed to deliver the unexpected, and it did again.
“My team left me a note on my car,” Stenhouse said. “They believed in me.”
Due to repeated stops, the race finally ended on lap 211, making it the longest Daytona 500 in history.
A few minutes before the end, teammates Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon looked like they could control things in overtime, but couldn’t generate enough speed – Dillon got fired and major carnage ensued.
That left Stenhouse in front, struggling with Logano and Kyle Larson. It felt like a sprint to the finish, but another wreck, as the white flag had already been raised, essentially ended the race.
Stenhouse wins at Daytona!
Ricky Stenhouse talks about his 2023 Daytona 500 win and explains his mindset throughout the race.
NASCAR’s signing event had seen upsets twice in a row. Michael McDowell won in 2021 after avoiding a huge late wreck, and Austin Cindric topped the podium last year – those triumphs remain the only Cup Series victory for either man. This year seemed to have a more familiar feel, with Larson and Logano being the final two champions in the series.
Busch led a group of big names who were aiming for their first success in the 500m, including Brad Keselowski, who won the first stage and led late. None of them could beat Stenhouse in the end.
Ross Chastain won Stage 2 ahead of pole sitter Alex Bowman and Logano but couldn’t maintain his momentum when things picked up again.
Busch has had a turbulent week, having made headlines following a recent gun problem in Mexico and an accident in qualifying that forced him to retire to the back of the ground at the start while using a rescue vehicle. Busch went one lap down, fired back and threatened heavily, but his dream result didn’t materialize.
“Second place is the worst”
Joey Logano described the feeling of finishing second in the Daytona 500 after winning a championship last season.
The first half of the race was uneventful, but that changed on lap 118, when Tyler Reddick piled into the wall after a bump from Kevin Harvick, with the collision also knocking Erik Jones and Chase Elliott out of the way. the race.
It was nothing compared to what happened towards the end, when the opportunity presented itself and the riders were quick to make bold moves in a bid for glory.
Such was the wilderness of the final stages that motocross superstar Travis Pastrana found himself on the fringes of the top 10 heading into the final restart.
In the end, it was Stenhouse’s night, able to overcome the chaos and pull off a momentous victory.
Notable names taken from the wreckage
Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs and more crashed on Stage 3 of the Daytona 500.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX And subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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