Checkered pass: Dillon hijacks Daytona in OT
Late maneuver delivers No. 3 of Earnhardt fame back onto Victory Lane
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The No. 3 is No. 1 again at Daytona, on a day, in a race and at a place forever linked with the great Dale Earnhardt.
Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 on Sunday, driving the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet that Earnhardt piloted for most of his career. Earnhardt was behind the wheel of the No. 3 when he won his only Daytona 500 in 1998, and when he was killed in an accident on the final lap of the race three years later.
Dillon’s victory, in the 60th running of “The Great American Race,” came 17 years to the day of Earnhardt’s fatal crash.
Dillon wasn’t a factor in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet until the final lap in ▶ Page 8C overtime when he got a push from Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. that helped him get to leader Aric Almirola. Dillon spun Almirola then whizzed by to give Childress, his grandfather, another iconic victory in the beloved No. 3.
“My grandfather has done everything for me and everybody knows it,” Dillon, 27, said. “There’s a lot of pressure on me to perform because I’ve had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure; the same with the No. 3, there’s a lot of pressure behind it, but I’m willing to take it and go with it.”
As for the aggressive move that wrecked Almirola? Dillon was doing what has to be done to win at Daytona.
“We just had a run and I stayed on the gas. It’s what it is when you’re at Daytona,” he said. “I just had more momentum when he was trying to block me and it turned him. Hate that for him, but it’s the Daytona 500. He should do the same thing to me in that position.”
Almirola, in his debut race for Stew
DAYTONA
art-haas Racing, was devastated.
“My heart is broken. I thought I was going to win the Daytona 500,” Almirola said.
Childress was overjoyed.
“I just, the emotions just flowing, to be able to win, with the 3 car, having it in the winner’s circle, my grandson, 20 years after Dale won in ’98, so special,” Childress said.
The final scoring tower showed the No. 3 on top, then the No. 43 — two of the most seminal numbers in NASCAR.
Wallace, the first black driver in the Daytona 500 field since 1969, finished second in a 1-2 finish for Chevrolet and Childress’ engine program. Wallace drives the No. 43 car for Richard Petty and sobbed in his postrace news conference after his mother came to the front of the room to give him a hug. The two had a long embrace in which she told Wallace repeatedly “you finally did it.”
After another moment with his sister, Wallace sat at the dais sobbing into a towel. His finish is the highest for a black driver since Wendell Scott was 13th in 1966.
“Pull it together, bud, pull it together. You just finished second,” he told himself.
Wallace, from Mobile, Alabama, received a telephone call from Hank Aaron before the race and Lewis Hamilton, the four-time Formula One world champion and only black driver in that series, tweeted his support to Wallace.
Denny Hamlin, the 2016 winner, finished third in a Toyota.
Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high 118 laps, faded to seventh after giving the win away in regulation. He wrecked Las Vegan Kurt Busch, the defending race winner, trying to reclaim his lead and the contact damaged Blaney’s Ford.
It spoiled what should have been a Team Penske party — car owner Roger Penske had three contenders, all considered favorites Sunday — but all came up empty. Brad Keselowski wrecked early in the race racing for the lead and although Joey Logano finished fourth, it wasn’t the victory Penske expected from one of his drivers.
“It’s a shame you don’t close it out, but you try to just learn from your mistakes and try to do better next time,” Blaney said. “This one definitely stings, but hopefully we can get another shot at it one day.”
two years ago, rising to No. 4 in the world.
Watson showed up this year at No. 117, coming off a year filled with so many doubts that he said he discussed retirement with his wife.
Na hit a wedge close to perfection from the worst angle on the reachable par-4 10th hole for a birdie and two-putted for birdie on the 11th to briefly take the lead.
He fell back with consecutive bogeys from the trees and shot 69. Finau lurked all day. His last chance was an eagle putt on the 17th that stopped inches short.
Patrick Cantlay had a one-shot lead going to the back nine until he ran into tree trouble on the 12th and 13th holes. The UCLA alum did no better than pars the rest of the way for a 71 to tie for fourth with Scott Stallings (68).
At Adelaide, Australia,
Jin Young Ko of South Korea, playing in her first event as a tour member, closed with a 3-under 69 for a 14-under 274 total to complete a wire-towire win in the Women’s Australian Open. Ko, who led by four shots going into the final round at Kooyonga Golf Club, finished with a three-shot win over 18-year-old Hyejin Choi (67) of South Korea.
At Naples, Fla., Joe Durant birdied the final two holes in a 5-under 67 to finish at 19-under 197 and win the Cubb Classic by four strokes on Twineagles’ Talon course. Steve Stricker (70), David Toms (65), Lee Janzen (68), Billy Mayfair (64) and Tim Petrovic (64) tied for second. Stricker had a double bogey on the par-4 18th.
At Henderson, Edward Fryatt won the Henderson Amateur in a playoff over Josh Goldstein at Revere Golf Club. Fryatt, the threetime reigning Southern Nevada Golf Association player of the year, and Goldstein ended regulation tied at 3-over 147, five strokes ahead of the field. Fryatt won with a 10-foot par putt on the first extra hole.
At Muscat, Oman, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands closed with a 4-under 68 for a 16-under 272 total and a two-shot win over England’s Chris Wood (69) in the inaugural Oman Open.
LPGA: Champions: SNGA: European PGA: