Austin Dillon has won the 60th running of the Daytona 500. The Great American Race saw the No. 3 return to victory lane.
The Monster Energy Cup Series season begins at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway with the winner laying claim to the Harley J. Earl trophy and a week long media tour.
Alex Bowman had the pole for the race but Denny Hamlin was able to slip by and lead the first lap. A flat tire for Kyle Busch ruined his day as well as that of DJ Kennington with just a handful of laps left in the first segment. At the end of segment one, Erik Jones made contact with the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr who was attempting to block Ryan Blaney resulting in a crash that damaged the cars of Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez.
Chase Elliott would bump Brad Keselowski just past the mid-way point of segment No. 2 resulting in a chain reaction that ended the days of Danica Patrick and Kasey Kahne in the process. Ryan Blaney would go on to win the second segment.
With Hamlin in the lead, Kurt Busch was turned from the air off of the car of Blaney sending him around and resulting in a massive wreck that took out both drivers, polesitter Alex Bowman and a host of others.
In overtime Hamlin led the field to green but Almirola jumped out the lead before he was turned by Dillon on the white flag lap to claim his second Cup Series win.
NASCAR Daytona 500 Race Results
- Austin Dillon
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Joey Logano
- Chris Buescher
- Paul Menard
- Ryan Blaney
- Ryan Newman
- Michael McDowell
- AJ Allmendinger
- Aric Almirola
- Justin Marks
- Trevor Bayne
- David Gilliland
- Clint Bowyer
- Jamie McMurray
- Alex Bowman
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- Gray Gaulding
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Mark Thompson
- William Byron
- DJ Kennington
- Kyle Busch
- Kurt BUsch
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Brendan Gaughan
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- David Ragan
- Kevin Harvick
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Elliott
- Kasey Kahne
- Danica Patrick
- Erik Jones
- Daniel Suarez
- Jimmie Johnson
- Ty Dillon
- Corey LaJoie