Earnhardt Jr. wins Daytona 500
Earnhardt ends drought in rain-delayed 500
Multi-car wreck set up shootout finish.
BEACH, FLA. Dale DAYTONA Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500, ending a 57-race winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series and becoming an instant championship contender in NASCAR’s premier series.
Earnhardt led the final 18 laps in winning the “Great American Race” for the second time, pulling away on a restart with two laps remaining and hanging on as the race ended under caution nearly 11 hours after it began because of a rain delay of six hours.
“Hell, yeah!” Earnhardt radioed his team as his No. 88 Chevrolet crossed the finish line ahead of Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon. “I’m going to burn this … down. Unbelievable!”
“I love you, man,” responded Steve Letarte, who is entering his final season as Earnhardt’s crew chief before moving to a TV analyst role next year.
It was Earnhardt’s 20th victory in the Cup circuit.
“I can’t believe this,” said Earnhardt, whose last win in NASCAR’s signature event was 10 years ago. “This is better than the first one.”
Denny Hamlin finished second, followed by Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson.
Under NASCAR’s new Chase for the Sprint Cup format, the top 15 race winners qualify for the season-ending 10-race playoff, which also will feature elimination rounds and a winner-take-all season finale among four drivers.
“It’s big for a lot of reasons,” Hamlin said. “He’s obviously going into the last year with (Le- tarte). They can start going into Chase planning now. They’re very flexible in what they can try.
“As far as the race win, it’s very significant that any Earnhardt wins at Daytona.”
Making the title run was a relief for Earnhardt, who hadn’t won since June 2012 and had endured a four-year winless skid before that.
“I’d like to tell my fans that support us that we pretty much (are) in the Chase,” said the 10time most popular driver, whose seven-time champion father was killed on the last lap of the 2001
Daytona 500. “You ain’t got to worry about that! We can get that off our chests.”
Earnhardt fended off a challenge by Keselowski on the final restart and got drafting help from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Gordon to protect the lead. His car picked up debris on its front grille during the final caution, but it wasn’t a factor over the final two laps of green.
Though Earnhardt hadn’t won at Daytona since 2004, he had finished runner-up in three of the last four years in the season opener.
“Winning this race is the greatest feeling that you can feel in this sport, aside from accepting the trophy for the championship,” he said. “I didn’t know if I’d ever get a chance to feel that again.
“This is amazing. I can’t believe this is happening. I’ll never take this for granted, man. This doesn’t happen twice, let alone once. Just real thankful.”
Keselowski, whose big break in NASCAR came when he was hired by Earnhardt for a Nationwide Series ride seven years ago, said, “I’m happy for my friend. He did a great job. He’s been right there. He runs restrictor plates as an elite driver; he’s probably in the top three. He hasn’t gotten the win he deserved a couple of times from a whole bunch of circumstances out of his control. He was due.”