McDowell breaks through
On 358th Cup Series start, 36-year-old earns first win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Michael McDowell stormed through a crash scene to win Sunday’s Daytona 500, snapping an 0-for-357 streak with a fiery pileup in his rearview mirror.
McDowell led just the final lap — maybe half of it, really — when Brad Keselowski turned teammate Joey Logano as the Team Penske drivers jockeyed for the victory.
Keselowski has no regrets about the way he handled the final lap.
Keselowski had made a huge run on race leader Logano about a mile from the finish line. Keselowski tried to pass Logano on the low side, but Logano blocked him and ended up crashing both of them.
Kyle Busch slammed into the side of Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford, sending it spinning and hitting the wall again. Austin Cindric plowed into both, creating a brief explosion and fire. Each driver escaped unscathed.
“Had a big run down the backstretch, wanted the make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended up really bad,” Keselowski said. “Don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. Frustrating.
“We were in position. It’s exactly where I wanted to
be — running second on the last lap of Daytona with this package. Had the run, made the move and it didn’t work out.”
McDowell stayed flat in the gas and plowed past the two spinning cars to the lead, then won a three-wide drag race until NASCAR threw a race-ending caution.
It was mayhem behind McDowell as a huge pack of cars could not avoid Keselowski and Logano. The collisions were one on top of another, flames erupting all over Daytona International Speedway as the race came to a close early Monday morning, nearly nine hours after it began.
McDowell, a 36-year-old journeyman from Arizona, was a 100-1 underdog at the start of the race and seemed in disbelief after taking his first checkered flag.
“So many years just grinding it out hoping for an opportunity like this,” McDowell said. “We’re the Daytona 500 champions. I cannot believe this. Luckily was able to make it through.”
A rain delay of almost six hours pushed the race into the night and under the lights, albeit without almost half the field. A 16-car accident just 15 laps into the race — moments before the rain — thinned the contenders and set up a showdown between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.
Kyle Busch pushed Christopher Bell into the back of Aric Almirola, who was running second. Almirola’s car lost traction as it drove over a slick, painted double line on the inside of the track. It veered into the car of Alex Bowman, who had started on the pole and was then running third.
“We were just getting pushed too hard too early,” Almirola said. “Man, we were in a fine position, just sitting there riding around in the top two, three and the 20 (Bell) just came with a big run and hit me really hard in a bad spot and it turned me to the right and tore up our race car and ended our Daytona 500 way too early.”
Hamlin and Harvick had the two best cars but pit strategy ended Hamlin’s shot at winning a record third consecutive Daytona 500.
Reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott finished second and 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon was third. Harvick finished fourth, and Hamlin was fifth after leading a race-high 98 laps.
Bubba Wallace ran into trouble early and late in his first Daytona 500 driving for Michael Jordan.
He still came out of NASCAR’s marquee race with another milestone, becoming the first Black driver to lead a lap in the Daytona 500.
Wallace dipped to the low line late in the second stage to grab the lead on lap 129 in the No. 23 Toyota. He lost the lead back to twotime defending champion Hamlin — who co-owns 23XI with Jordan — and ran third at the end of the stage.
Wallace got caught up in a fiery, chaotic last lap and finished 17th.
“He was running up front and battling for stage wins. That’s what we want to see,” Hamlin said.
Wallace was forced to pit with 22 laps left in the race because he felt a vibration in the Toyota. He fell a lap down and pushed Hamlin to give his boss and Toyota teammate a nudge toward his run at a record third straight Daytona 500 championship.