Chris O’Meara / Associated Press
Michael McDowell won the first Daytona 500 of his career and stopped the story in the process.
It looked like Denny Hamlin would become the first NASCAR driver in the history of the sport to win the Daytona 500 three years in a row, when he won the first two stages and kept the lead in the final stretch, but Joey Logano and others passed him 25 laps from end to a dramatic ending.
Hamlin joined Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Sterling Marlin as consecutive champions at the Daytona International Speedway, which failed to triple in the Great American Race.
McDowell received the checkered flag at the opening event of the NASCAR Cup Series 2021 season on Sunday in an impressive way, as it looked like Logano would win on the final lap. However, Logano and Brad Keselowski collided in the final onslaught, which led to several cars being shelved.
NASCAR analyzed the situation and determined that McDowell would be the winner, which was the first Cup Series victory of his career.
Here’s a look at the top five, for NASCAR.com:
1. Michael McDowell
two Chase Elliott
3. Austin Dillon
4 – Kevin Harvick
5. Denny Hamlin
It was a turning point, but it didn’t take long for chaos to reign in this year’s edition of the famous race.
Christopher Bell pushed Aric Almirola on lap 15, which caused a massive pileup of 16 cars that knocked out several competitors, including pole position Alex Bowman. Martin Truex Jr., Jamie McMurray, William Byron, Matt Dibenedetto, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Newman were among those involved in the wreck.
Aric Almirola @Aric_Almirola
Totally upset about destroying the # Daytona500 so early in the race. My team gave me an amazing car … one that was certainly capable of winning. Unfortunately today was not our day. We will have many more fast racing cars and I look forward to capitalizing on those opportunities. https://t.co/CsBGPAS5Ax
Furthermore, a time delay of almost six hours followed.
As soon as the time delay ended, Almirola, Bowman, Blaney, Newman, Derrike Cope, Daniel Suarez, David Ragan and Erik Jones were all Outside of the race. Chris Buescher, DiBenedetto and Anthony Alfredo were also ruled when the race started, Quin Houff had problems during stage 1 and was eliminated.
Despite all the drama, the status quo prevailed at the beginning, when Hamlin won Stage 1 and won the corresponding playoff point.
It was appropriate, considering that he was directly involved in two of the biggest stories that would come to the race. Not only was he going for a triple, but he and Michael Jordan are also co-owners of 23XI Racing with Bubba Wallace at the wheel.
Wallace, who is the only black full-time driver at the top level of the sport and spurred progress by successfully calling NASCAR to ban the display of Confederate flags on racetracks last year, was also in the top 10 after phase 1.
Wallace almost won stage 2 in a battle with Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, but car number 11 held him back and won another point in the playoff. It was a testament to Hamlin’s skill, especially in Daytona, that he maneuvered back to the front of the pack on the final lap of the stage.
The stage was defined by concerns about visibility in the fog; an accident involving Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson; and Kaz Grala’s right rear tire on fire. Larson’s car suffered damage to the right side and a flat tire, while Grala’s car needed fire extinguishers.
There wasn’t much drama in the early part of Step 3 with Hamlin flying so much that he asked his team how many laps he led.
However, he lost that lead to Logano and others with 25 laps remaining and was never able to make up the difference. McDowell was the biggest benefactor and won the first Cup Series victory of his career.