Denny Hamlin secures emotional Daytona 500 victory
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
DATONA BEACH, Fla.—Denny Hamlin won it for J.D.
Just weeks after the J.D. Gibbs, the co-founder of Joe Gibbs Racing and long-time supporter of the driver, died from a degenerative neurological disease, Hamlin broke a 47-race winless streak and returned to Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway.
Under the direction of new crew chief Chris Gabehart, Hamlin held the point for 30 laps—and avoided a late-race crashfest en route to his second Daytona 500 win.
“The whole family – they did so much for me over the course of my career,” Hamlin said. “This one is for J.D. We are desperately going to miss him the rest of our lives.
“His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing and proud to do this for them.”
Kyle Busch and Erik Jones completed the podium for JGR.
While Busch was disappointed to have lost the Great American Race once again, the driver of the No. 18 took solace in a JGR Toyota winning—and Hamlin honoring Gibbs with the victory.
“Strength in numbers,” Busch said. “We were trying to protect at least one of our cars being able to get to Victory Lane, and I felt like we were able to do that with being able to do what we did on that last restart. But, overall, it’s certainly bittersweet. It’s awesome to see a JGR car in Victory lane with joe and J.D. and everything that’s gone on this offseason with all that. But it’s very, very bittersweet for all those that support us and all my team guys that work so hard to try to get to Victory Lane and get our Daytona 500 victory.
“He’s got two. I’ve got none. We just have to move on and go to the next time.”
Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Jimmy Johnson and Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10.
The fireworks started on Lap 50 when Kurt Busch became loose in Turn 2 and triggered a five-car wreck. Kyle Busch, who was in the lead at the time of the incident, led the final seven laps to win Stage 1. Alex Bowman, Logano, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Larson, Kevin Harvick and Jones rounded out the top 10.
Logano led the field to green to start the second stage with Suarez, Blaney, Harvick, Daniel Hemric, Aric Almirola, Blaney, McDowell, Bowyer and Ryan Newman. Matt DiBenedetto took the lead and led a race-high 49 laps for the race.
The second stage was slowed by a caution when Casey Mears hit Parker Kligerman in Turn 1. DiBenedetto led the field to the pits on Lap 109 while Blaney, Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson remained on the track.
Blaney held off the field for Stage 2 win follow by Byron, Almirola, Keselowski, Stenhouse, DiBenedetto, Harvick, Suarez, Johnson and Logano.
Byron remained on the track with Almirola, Stenhouse, Harvick, Suarez, Johnson, Logano, Bowyer and Elliott while the rest of the leaders pitted under caution.
The hits just kept coming in the third and final stage. Coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 160, Cody Ware spun into B.J. McLeod, lifted Tyler Reddick off of pit road and collected Johnson and Stenhouse Jr., in the process for Caution 6.
The leaders pitted three laps later with Kyle Busch coming off of pit road first. McDowell stayed out for the lead along with McMurray, Hamlin and Stenhouse, Jr. But NASCAR had McDowell and Stenhouse drop to the rear prior to the Lap 168 start.
McDowell moved out to the lead with Busch behind. Two laps later, Hamlin pulled to the front with Bowman in tow. He held the point through the debris caution on Lap 173 and when Larson cut a tire seven laps later. Keselowski triggered the ninth caution on Lap 188 when he had a flat tire and spun off of Turn 4.
Hamlin retained the lead followed by Kyle Busch, Bowyer, DiBenedetto, McDowell, Paul Menard, Harvick, David Ragan, Logano and Ryan Blaney. Before the field completed the first lap, Menard made contact with DiBenedetto and sent him spinning into the field. Twenty-two cars were collected in the melee including Blaney, Stenhouse, Jr., Suarez, David Ragan, Larson, Austin Dillon, Newman, Hemric, Matt Tifft, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex, Jr., Chris Buescher, Johnson, Elliott, Jones and polesitter Byron.
NASCAR red-flagged the race for 24 minutes, 57 seconds. The race returned to green on Lap 194 with Kyle Busch and Hamlin side-by-side. As the field came through Turn 3 again, Stenhouse attempted to come up the middle of the pack and took out Larson, Kevin Harvick, Elliott, Bowman, Ty Dillon, Byron and Keselowski.
With three laps remaining, Busch and Hamlin took off again, only to make it to Turn 3. Clint Bowyer moved to the inside, but misjudged the space in front of him and cut off McDowell. Bowyer darted into Elliott. Keselowski, Byron, Johnson, Landon Cassill, McMurray, Larson and Brendan Gaughan were damaged in the wreck.
The race was red-flagged again on Lap 201. After nearly 15 minutes, the race returned to yellow.
During the delay, the JGR teams constructed their strategy for the finish. Hamlin, who grabbed the lead from Busch prior to the caution, led the field to overtime on Lap 205. Logano, McDowell, Preece, Ty Dillon, Jones, Larson, Bowman and Johnson rounded out the top 10 when the race returned to green.
“They gave us the option there to just drop in front of (Busch) and I thought that was the best idea to hopefully get one of the two of our cars in victory lane,” Hamlin said. “I thought it was the right decision for us to stay up top there. It was a good decision. We actually got a really good run up there when we came up in three and four. I thought he was going to get position on us, but we just backed up to him just enough to keep him at bay. Proud of not only our team, but his team as well and having a great shot at the Daytona 500. I know this was as close as he came. He was a great teammate all day and we worked well together.”
Despite a challenge from Logano, the JGR Toyotas sailed off to a 1-2-3 finish with Hamlin picking up his second Harley J. Earl trophy in three years.
“I’m just going to enjoy it more,” Hamlin said of his second Daytona 500 win and his 32nd Cup victory. “I mean I think I was so dumbfounded about everything that happened the first time with the photo finish and everything.
“This one lets me soak it in a little bit more. I’m going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but I’m going to enjoy it the rest of my life.”
Hamlin tops the Cup standings. Preece, the top finishing Daytona 500 rookie, scored a career-best eighth-place finish and the first top 10 of his career.
“I got taken to school, to be honest with you,” said Preece, who said this run was for the grassroots racers. “A lot of learning to be had, for sure. Today was a big learning day. But a really good friend of mine told me a goal is to finish. And I did just that. So, my first finish at Daytona, a top 10 for JTG and Kroger and what more could you ask for?”
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