Daytona Beach, Florida – Someone had to make a move to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have been pulled out of traffic to take his shot at a monster that was upset. McDowell never had to play his hand.
He navigated a stunning, fiery crash on the last lap involving Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, only to get confused early Monday morning. It was the journeyman’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 14th season, CBS Sports notes.
A 100-1 underdog when the race began on Sunday afternoon, McDowell won for the first time in 358 Cup starts when the checkered flag finally flew about 15 minutes after midnight. The race was halted by rain for nearly six hours and ended nine hours after the green flag flew at Daytona International Speedway.
“So many years to grind it out and hope for an opportunity like this,” McDowell said. “Such a great way to get your first victory – a Daytona 500. Are you kidding me?”
NASCAR’s season opener was full of storylines. Denny Hamlin tried to set a record for the third consecutive Daytona 500 win, and the team he started with Michael Jordan debuted with driver Bubba Wallace.
Hamlin led nearly half 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 in back-to-back years.
Kyle Larson was back after nearly a year in exile for using a racist insult, and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott attempted his first Daytona 500 win.
And at the very back of the field, Derrike Cope, winner of the Daytona 500 in 1990, made what he said would be his last NASCAR start. At 62 he was the oldest driver in the field and his overwhelming victory 31 years ago was considered the greatest in racing history.
McDowell did not challenge Cope for that award, as McDowell is considered a talented superspeedway racer who just had to be in the right place to finally win.
He watched and waited as he chased Team Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski, and it was Keselowski who finally broke free from the parade of cars. Keselowski tried to pass Logano, but the teammates made contact and caused a fight all over the Daytona International Speedway.
“I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500 and it got really bad,” said Keselowski. ‘I don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone’s car. So frustrating. ‘
Logano had no explanation for the ending.
Pandemonium, I think. Chaos struck, ”he said.
Indeed, it was chaos when McDowell cleaned up the crash. The collisions were one after another, flames erupted all over the track as McDowell dragged Elliott and Austin Dillon until NASCAR finally issued a warning.
A batch of solid contenders were knocked out of the race just 15 laps by a 16-car accident that started at the front of the field and thinned the pack.