Daytona Beach, Florida – Someone had to make a play to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have withdrawn from traffic to shoot himself in front of an annoying monster. McDowell never had to touch his hand.
He sailed through a shocking and fiery final lap clash in which Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch took part to cause a huge upset in the early hours of Monday morning. It was the first NASCAR Cup Series victory in its 14th season, CBS Sports notes.
A 100-1 loss when the race began on Sunday afternoon, McDowell won for the first time in the 358 Cup Cup when the checkered flag finally flew about 15 minutes after midnight. The race was stopped by rain for nearly six hours and ended nine hours after the green flag waved at Daytona International Speedway.
“So many years just figuring it out and waiting for an opportunity like this,” McDowell said. “Such a fantastic way to get a first win: a Daytona 500. Are you kidding me?”
The opening of the NASCAR season was stacked with plots. Denny Hamlin was trying to get a third straight victory in the Daytona 500 in a row, and the team that started with Michael Jordan debuted with driver Bubba Wallace.
Hamlin led nearly half of the race, but finished fifth, CBS Sports reported, adding three other previous drivers: Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995), Cale Yarborough (1983, 1984) and Richard Petty (1973, 1974) – – won the Daytona 500 in consecutive years.
Kyle Larson returned after nearly a year in exile for using a racial insurrection, and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott attempted his first victory in the Daytona 500.
And at the end of the field, the winner of the 1990 Daytona 500, Derrike Cope, did what he said would be his last outing at NASCAR. At 62, he was the oldest driver on the field and his annoying victory 31 years ago was considered the greatest in the history of the race.
McDowell didn’t challenge Cope for that distinction because McDowell considers himself a talented super speed racer who just needed to be in the right place to finally win.
He watched and waited as he followed Penske’s teammates, Logano and Keselowski, and it was Keselowski who finally broke free from the car parade. Keselowski tried to pass Logano, but teammates contacted him and caused a melee throughout Daytona International Speedway.
“I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it ended very badly,” Keselowski said. “I don’t feel like a mistake, but I can’t drive the rest of the car. So frustrating.”
Logano had no explanation about the ending.
“I guess it’s Pandemonium. The chaos fell,” he said.
In fact, it was chaos once McDowell cleared the crash. The collisions were one on top of the other, flames erupting all over the track as McDowell dragged Elliott and Austin Dillon until NASCAR finally caught the eye.
A group of solid contenders were eliminated from the race just 15 laps by a 16-car crash that began at the front of the field that thinned the pack.