Daytona Beach, Florida – Someone had to make a move to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have withdrawn from traffic to shoot an angry monster. McDowell never had to play with his hand.
He sailed through an amazing, heated accident in the last lap, involving Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to cause a huge upset early Monday morning. It was the first career victory of the NASCAR Cup Series traveler in his 14th season, notes CBS Sports.
In a 100-1 race when the race started 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 almost six hours and ended nine hours after the green flag fluttered on Daytona International Speedway.
“I’ve been deleting it for so many years and we hope for such an opportunity,” McDowell said. “Such a great way to get a first win – a Daytona 500. Are you kidding me?”
The opening of the NASCAR season was full of stories. Denny Hamlin was trying to get a consecutive victory in the Daytona 500, and the team he started with Michael Jordan debuted with driver Bubba Wallace.
Hamlin drove nearly half of the race, but finished fifth, CBS Sports reported, adding that three other drivers ahead of him – Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995), Cale Yarborough (1983, 1984) and Richard Petty (1973, 1974). ) – – won the Daytona 500 years ago.
Kyle Larson returned after nearly a year in exile for using a racial insult, and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott tried his first Daytona 500 victory.
And until the end of the field, the 1990 Daytona 500 winner, Derrike Cope, did what he said would be his last NASCAR start. At 62, he was the oldest driver in the field, and his upset victory 31 years ago was considered the biggest in racing history.
McDowell did not challenge Cope for this distinction, as McDowell is considered a talented speed driver, who just had to be in the right place to win in the end.
He watched and waited as he watched his teammates Logano and Keselowski of the Penske team, and it was Keselowski who finally freed himself from the parade of cars. Keselowski tried to get past Logano, but his teammates made contact, triggering a body attack throughout Daytona International Speedway.
“I wanted to take the step to win the Daytona 500 and it ended very badly,” Keselowski said. “I don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. So frustrating.”
Logano had no explanation for the end.
“Pandemonium, I think. Chaos has hit,” he said.
It was really chaos once McDowell eliminated the crash. The collisions were one on top of the other, with flames erupting all over the track, while McDowell fired with Elliott and Austin Dillon until NASCAR finally called attention.
A group of solid competitors were taken out of the race just 15 laps from a 16-car accident that started in front of the field that thinned the pack.