Hamlin breaks drought with Daytona 500 triumph

Daytona 500 Race Results

Denny Hamlin brought home an emotional 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing to take his second Daytona 500 win and snap a 47-race winless drought.

The win comes less than a month following the death of JD Gibbs, the son of team owner Joe, following a long illness.

Hamlin prevailed in a dramatic final 17 laps filled three multi-car pileups in the and a late hard charge from teammate Kyle Busch.

Hamlin started the 207-lap event in 10th place and hovered around the top ten for the race’s opening stage as a handful of drivers and all three manufacturers took turns up front.

William Byron led the opening seven laps from pole before being passed by Roush Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Stenhouse, Jr. was then dispatched by Matt DiBenedetto, who went on to lead the next 15 laps as many of the Ford drivers pitted on lap 15 gas up to make it the end of the 60-lap stage.

The Fords found their way back to the front as the yellow came out on Lap 20 when Corey Lajoie cut a tire.

The yellow forced the remainder of the field down pit road for tires and rubber and elevated Stenhouse back to the front as the field restarted on Lap 34. Stenhouse led the next 12 laps but Kyle Busch, followed by Hamlin, made his way to the front on Lap 35.

Busch led the remainder of the stage and took the win and the 10 stage points that went along with it but relinquished the lead to Joey Logano as he pitted under the stage break.

Logano, who won the 2018 Monster Energy Cup Series Championship, led the next 12 laps but pitted with the rest of the Fords on Lap 72 which handed the lead back over to DiBenedetto with Kyle Busch following.

The pair of Toyotas stayed up front and started to hit lapped traffic but saw their progress slowed when the caution flew on Lap 108 for a crash between Casey Mears and Parker Kligerman.

DiBenedetto and Busch once again surrendered the lead to a group of Team Penske Ford Mustangs – Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski. Blaney held off a charge from William Byron to take a win in the second stage.

When the race restarted after the stage break, Byron showed his muscle and took the lead from Blaney. The Daytona 500 polesitter dominated the next 42 laps and kept the likes of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, Stenhouse and Clint Bowyer at bay.

A bizarre incident on Lap 160 brought out the race’s fourth yellow flag. Cody Ware come together with Rick Ware Racing teammate B.J. McLeod which caused a chain reaction incident that collected Stenhouse, Jr. Johnson and Tyler Reddick.

The caution brought the majority of the field down pit road and shuffled Chip Ganassi Racing’s Jamie McMurray to the lead with Hamlin alongside.

Hamlin got the jump on the restart and held the lead with the help of teammate Busch. The drama was starting to build behind them as first teammate Erik Jones was forced to pit with mechanical issues and spins by Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski brought out two yellow flags on Laps 182 and 188.

Hamlin took the green on Lap 190 with 10 to go with Busch alongside, but the action was about to get hot.

Chaos ensued from there as contact between DiBenedetto and Paul Menard triggered a 21-car melee that eliminated the likes of David Ragan, Blaney, Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, Daniel Hemric, Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Tifft and Bubba Wallace.

The green flew on Lap 195 as Busch edged ahead of Hamlin with Clint Bowyer, Michael McDowell and Logano in tow. Contact between Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Larson started another multi-car crash, which claimed outside polesitter Alex Bowman and Ty Dillon.

The crash forced the race into overtime and Kyle Busch brought the field to the green on Lap 200. Hamlin passed his teammate heading into Turn 3 as yet another multi-car crash broke out as Michael McDowell tagged Clint Bowyer which eradicated Byron, Chase Elliott, McMurray, Brendan Gaughan and Landon Cassill.

Hamlin jumped away from Busch when the green flew on Lap 206. Logano, with a push from Rookie Ryan Preece attempted to replicate his race-winning move in Duel 2 but was unable to get close to Hamlin. Hamlin soldiered ahead as Busch regained ground and crossed the 0.138 of a second in arrears while teammate Erik Jones followed in third.

The win is Hamlin’s 32^nd and the third 500 win for Joe Gibbs Racing. An emotional Hamlin basked in the glory while dedicating the win to his deceased former boss.

 “It was just one of those days where I felt like it was meant to be,” said Hamlin. “Hats off to Kyle as well. I know he was eagerly wanting his first victory in the Daytona 500, but today we just weren’t going to be denied.

“The whole (Gibbs) family – they did so much for me over the course of my career. This one is for J.D. We’re desperately going to miss him the rest of our lives. His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing, and I’m proud to do this for them.”

Logano settled for fourth followed by McDowell in fifth. Ty Dillon led a group of Chevrolets in sixth, his best Daytona finish followed by Larson in seventh. Preece was the highest finishing rookie in eighth followed by Jimmie Johnson in ninth and Ross Chastain claiming a respectable tenth in his single-car effort for Premium Motorsports.