For six years and nearly 200 races, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hadn’t seen a checkered flag.
That all changed Sunday, though, as Stenhouse snapped a 199-race winless streak when he crossed the finish line under caution in the second NASCAR overtime, winning the 65th running of the Cup Series’ Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Stenhouse last won in 2017, taking first at the Coke Zero 400, which was also held at Daytona International Speedway. Sunday marked Stenhouse’s third career Cup Series victory, with all three wins coming at NASCAR’s two largest superspeedways. He also won the Geico 500 back on May 7, 2017, at Talladega in Lincoln, Ala.
“This whole offseason (crew chief) Mike (Kelley) preached how much we all believed in each other,” Stenhouse said. “They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes, but we were able to battle back.
“This is the site of my last win in 2017. We worked really hard and had a couple of shots to win last year but fell short. It was a tough season, but we got it done at the Daytona 500.”
After Chevrolet drivers Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and William Byron passed leader Brad Keselowski on the backstretch with four laps left, caution flew to force the first overtime.
But as a group led by Stenhouse zipped by on the top side after the restart, Dillon was turned to create a mess from seventh place on back down the backstretch. The 13-car carnage necessitated a second overtime run.
On the last restart, Stenhouse’s No. 47 Chevrolet pulled out front off Turn 4 and was declared the winner under caution after Kyle Larson, from the middle groove, wrecked following contact with Travis Pastrana.
Stenhouse, 35, edged the No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano for his first Daytona 500 win. At 212 laps, it was the longest-ever Daytona 500.
“Second is the worst, man. So close,” Logano said. “I was leading the white-flag lap there — Kyle (Larson) gave me a good push. But you watch the mirror and they’re three-wide across there. I knew if I went to the bottom … I’d probably get wrecked. I didn’t know if I could get down there in time to throw the block (on Stenhouse). So I didn’t want to wreck my car either.
“You don’t expect them to wreck. You think you’re racing to the checkered flag, and you put yourself in the best position to win at the finish line. But the caution came out. You wish you could race to the end.”
Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
To start NASCAR’s 75th season of stock car racing, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Bowman and Larson brought the 40-car field to the green flag for 200 scheduled laps around the high-banked, 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
Toyota driver Bell positioned his No. 20 Camry at the top spot on Lap 24, but the Fords forced the field’s hand early by pitting on Lap 37. Chevrolet drivers opted to pit on the next circuit as the groups split up.
Keselowski went from fourth place to pass leader Martin Truex Jr. and held off fellow Ford driver Ryan Preece by a car length to claim the Stage 1 win.
Keselowski topped the field at the halfway mark, but the event’s first major incident occurred when the fifth-place No. 45 Toyota of Tyler Reddick was tapped by Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford on Lap 118.
Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott also received damage in the accident at the east end of the World Center of Racing.
“That was the first time we’d been put in that situation,” said Reddick, making his first start for 23XI Racing, the team owned by Michael Jordan and minority partner Denny Hamlin. “We got loose, and, unfortunately, we took out a lot of good cars.”
At the end of Stage 2, Florida native Ross Chastain nipped Bowman by inches. On Lap 182, the race’s fifth caution flew after Preece lost control of his No. 41 Ford in Turn 1 to trigger a seven-car incident.
–Field Level Media
