A crash involving Danica Patrick and Greg Biffle reset the field with 12 laps to go as Kenseth led Hamlin and Truex around the 2.5-mile restrictor-plate track. Kenseth, who like Truex started at the rear with a backup car, got loose in Turn 3, leaving Hamlin and Truex to race for the win.
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“The last thing I wanted to do was wreck off turn four with my Toyota teammates and none of us win,” Hamlin said. “We had talked about a plan overnight to just work together, work together and I’ve never seen it executed so flawlessly as what we did today.”
It was the closest finish in 58 runnings of the Daytona 500 and the first for Toyota and Hamlin, who is just two months removed from ACL surgery.
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Fan and race favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a single-car crash with just 31 laps to go. Earnhardt was running fifth when he got loose in Turn 4 and slid into the inner-track wall, heavily damaging the nose of his No. 88 car.
Pole-sitter and Hendrick Motorsports rookie Chase Elliott crashed 19 laps into the season-opening race. Elliott started spinning and slid down the pit-road entry lane and onto the infield grass, heavily damaging the racecar’s splitter. Regan Smith’s car was also damaged in the crash.
Brian Vickers, who is filling in for the injured Tony Stewart, started a chain reaction crash on Lap 55 that also collected Carl Edwards and Trevor Bayne. Vickers’ 26th place finish was his first and might be his last filling in for Stewart. Ty Dillon is expected to take over in the No. 14 car until Stewart is healthy.
That switch could come as soon as the season’s second race, Jan. 28 at Atlanta.
Jimmie Johnson, who started at the rear but worked his was to the front and led 18 laps, was penalized with just under 40 laps to go for too many crew members over the wall for a pit stop. The No. 48 car was sent to the rear of the field but battled his way back for a 16th-place finish.
Daytona 500 results
- Denny Hamlin 2. Martin Truex Jr. 3. Kyle Busch 4. Kevin Harvick 5. Carl Edwards 6. Joey Logano 7. Kyle Larson 8. Regan Smith 9. Austin Dillon 10. Kurt Busch 11. Ryan Newman 12. Aric Almirola 13. Kasey Kahne 14. Matt Kenseth 15. Michael McDowell 16. Jimmie Johnson 17. Jamie McMurray 18. Paul Menard 19. Ryan Blaney 20. Brad Keselowski 21. AJ Allmendinger 22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 23. Landon Cassill 24. Brian Scott 25. Ty Dillon 26. Brian Vickers 27. Michael Annett 28. Trevor Bayne 29. David Ragan 30. Michael Waltrip 31. Bobby Labonte 32. Casey Mears 33. Clint Bowyer 34. Greg Biffle 35. Danica Patrick 36. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 37. Chase Elliott 38. Robert Richardson 39. Chris Buescher 40. Matt DiBenedetto
