Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins longest Daytona 500 in history
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Daytona 500 in double overtime and under caution Sunday night in the longest running of "The Great American Race."
The two overtimes pushed the 65th running of the race to a record 212 laps - a dozen laps beyond the scheduled distance and a whopping 530 miles.
Stenhouse's win in a Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing - a single-car team partly owned by former NBA player Brad Daugherty - was the third of his career. His only other victories came in 2017 - at Talladega and the summer race at Daytona.
Now the 35-year-old from Olive Branch, Mississippi, has a repeat win at Daytona in NASCAR's biggest race of the season. And it came in his first race reunited with crew chief Mike Kelly, who guided Stenhouse to a pair of Xfinity Series championships earlier in his career.
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"I think this whole offseason Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other. They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done," Stenhouse said. "Man, this is unbelievable. This was the site of my last win back in 2017. We've worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short.
"It was a tough season, but man, we got it done Daytona 500."
Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano finished second in a Ford for Team Penske, which won the race last year with Austin Cindric.
"Second is the worst, man," Logano said.
Christopher Bell was third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and followed by Chris Buescher in a Ford for RFK Racing and pole-sitter Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports in a Chevrolet.
AJ Allmendinger was sixth for Kaulig Racing, Daniel Suarez seventh for Trackhouse Racing, and Ryan Blaney eighth for Team Penske. Ross Chastain of Trackhouse and Riley Herbst of Rick Ware Racing rounded out the top 10.
Action sports star Travis Pastrana finished 11th in his Daytona 500 debut, and Kevin Harvick was 12th in his final Daytona 500. Harvick is retiring at the end of the year.
Kyle Busch dropped to 0 for 18 in the Daytona 500 but contended for his new Richard Childress Racing team. He was the leader ahead of teammate Austin Dillon with three laps remaining in regulation when a spin by Daniel Suarez brought out the caution and sent the race to overtime.
"Back in 1998, that would be the win, boys," Busch radioed his team in deliberate reference to how the late Dale Earnhardt won his only Daytona 500. There was no overtime then and Earnhardt won under caution.
Busch wound up 19th after the race-ending crash in second overtime.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson made his return to the series and ran inside the top 15 for most of the race. He was collected in one of the crashes in overtime and finished 31st. Johnson has returned from two years racing in the IndyCar Series as part owner of Legacy Motor Club and he plans to enter a handful of races.
RACE OF CHAMPIONS
The 65th running of the Daytona 500 marked the first time the reigning Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series champions were all part of the field.
Cup champion Logano finished second, while Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs was 25th and Truck Series champion Zane Smith 13th.
Smith had to race his way into the 40-driver field and won the Truck Series opener Friday night. It was the Daytona 500 debut for both Gibbs and Smith.
NEXT UP
The Cup Series races at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, next Sunday in the final race in the track's current configuration. It will be renovated into a short track after the race - a project that will prevent the track from hosting any racing in 2024. Kyle Larson won last year's race.