The 67th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500, kickstarted the NASCAR season in a drama-fueled event.
After running 11 laps on Sunday afternoon, Mother Nature got in the way as rain fell for nearly two hours. After a lengthy process to dry the 2.5-mile track, 41 cars started rolling again. However, after nine caution laps and right before the green flag waved again, a light rain fell that delayed again for close to half an hour.
As stage one was winding down, a caution waved after as the inside line caused an accordion effect, collecting multiple cars including Denny Hamlin, the three-time 500 winner. Joey Logano would take the green-white-checkered under caution to win the first stage.
On the first lap of Stage 2, there was another big wreck that took out several contenders, including Ross Chastain and racing legend Helio Castroneves. Pole-sitter Chase Briscoe was involved but stayed on the track as well as Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, and rookie Riley Herbst.
Hendrick Motorsports had a great run in the second stage along with Team Penske as Ryan Blaney captured the second stage followed by teammate Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman.
The “Big One” came at lap 186 when Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr were fighting for position and got around. Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, and other key contenders were involved and had their chances of winning slashed.
Another scary wreck came a few laps later when Christopher Bell was pushed hard from behind in the second position and spun, collecting Ryan Preece and several others when his car drifted back into the track. Preece wheelied and then went airborne, flipping a few times before coming to a rest. This wreck forced overtime with Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric up front.
During overtime, Cindric and Hamlin started fighting for position when Cole Custer and Corey Lajoie caused a second big one, swallowing Cindric and Hamlin. William Byron, last year’s 500 winner, jumped from ninth to the front after the wreck to win his second straight Daytona 500.