DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has won the 65th Daytona 500, making his way to the lead in double overtime and then emerging ahead of Joey Logano at the moment of caution on the final lap to earn the biggest win of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Stenhouse's win is the third of his Cup career and ends a 199-race winless streak that had lasted over five years.
After a spin by Daniel Suarez coming to two laps to go set up the first overtime, Stenhouse came into the picture after battling back from a pit road speeding penalty. He then pushed Logano to the lead from the outside lane, making a daring move to the inside for the top spot as contact between Austin Dillon and William Byron triggered a 13-car crash in Turn 3. Stenhouse and Logano then hooked up again for double overtime, but Stenhouse appeared to be a sitting duck as both Logano and Stenhouse made their moves at the white flag.
After a failed move to the outside of Stenhouse put him in the middle, Larson slid back and triggered a multi-car crash in Turns 1 and 2 as Stenhouse and Logano ran side-by-side. The field was frozen at the moment of caution per NASCAR rules, and Stenhouse was just ahead of Logano to win the Daytona 500 for single-car JTG Daugherty Racing.
Daytona 500 unofficial results
- #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #48 - Alex Bowman
- #16 - A.J. Allmendinger
- #99 - Daniel Suarez
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #15 - Riley Herbst
A decade ago, Stenhouse was a rising star who had been piling up accolades as a two-time champion of the Xfinity Series and the 2013 Cup Rookie of the Year. From that point onward, his career has not gone as smoothly -- he was let go by RFK Racing after just two wins in seven seasons (both in 2017), and he had developed a penchant for being an overaggressive driver prone to crashes.
But in the offseason, Stenhouse was paired once again with crew chief Mike Kelley, who he previously worked with during his Xfinity championship days. And the renewal of their partnership paid immediate dividends with another career-defining accomplishment.
"I think this whole offseason, Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other. They left me a note on the car that said they believe in me to go get the job done tonight," Stenhouse told Fox Sports. "I made a few mistakes, we were able to battle back. This Kroger-Cottonelle team worked really, really hard this offseason ... This is unbelievable."
Stenhouse's Daytona 500 win is also the second in team history for JTG Daugherty Racing, which is co-owned by Jodi and Tad Geschickter as well as NBA great Brad Daugherty. The organization's only previous win had come at Watkins Glen in 2014 with AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel. Daugherty is now the first Black car owner to ever win the Daytona 500.
Due to two overtimes pushing it to 212 laps, the 65th Daytona 500 ended up being the longest in the race's history. The previous record had been 207 laps in both 2018 and 2019.
"We Believe"
Leaving a note for Stenhouse was a practice that dated back to his and Kelley's days together in the Xfinity Series, when Kelly would leave a note on the rollbar -- one that only Ricky could see -- when times got tough. Speaking to the media in post-race, Kelley shared that he was compelled to do the same again today.
The note that Kelley left read "We believe! Today" -- a vital message for a driver who has had an up-and-down career that has ranged from being pulled from his ride when he failed to qualify for an Xfinity race as a rookie to eventually becoming a winning Cup driver.
"That's kind of been our team's motto all offseason is that we believe," Kelley said. "We're a small team, we're not a super powerhouse team, we're small. I think there's 40-45 employees that work in our shop every day, but I have 45 people that believe in what we're trying to accomplish.
"We're trying to get people to believe in Ricky Stenhouse again. We're trying to get people to believe in myself and the vision that we have. So that's all it was: A simple note on a piece of duct tape that I wrote that said we believe and we believe today."
Foiled Again
Had the Daytona 500 gone 200 laps, it may very well have turned into a fight to the finish between two of the greatest drivers of their generation looking to finally win The Great American Race. Brad Keselowski led a race-high 42 laps and was out front with five laps to go when Kyle Busch, in his 18th try to win the Daytona 500, made his move and took the lead as the field strung out single-file. Then, coming to two laps to go, Daniel Suarez spun off Turn 4 to bring out the caution with two laps to go.
At Lap 200, Busch was the leader under caution after two decades of trying to win the Daytona 500 -- just as Dale Earnhardt was 25 years ago, when he finally broke through in the 1998 Daytona 500 behind the wheel of a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Unfortunately for him, modern overtime rules dictated that he would have to try and hang on for two more laps to finally win the 500 in his 18th try. Things fell apart from there, as he lost his drafting help during the first overtime before being taken out in the wreck that occurred on the final lap.
"I was hoping to have a teammate restart where I could get down to the bottom, and then when I got down on the bottom we could get locked up and the 24 and the 8 and the 3 would all work together and push and go," Busch told reporters. "It looked like it was kind of working, but we got too much separation off of (Turn) 2 and I tried to back up to get to them. When they hit me it got me really squirrely, and then Austin checked up and the accordion happens and everybody's running over everybody.
"... I think this the first time I led Lap 200. I wish it was 1998 rules."
Busch is now 0-for-18 in the Daytona 500, but he still has company in that category. Keselowski is now 0-for-14 in the Daytona 500, while an earlier wreck meant that Martin Truex Jr. would go 0-for-19 in the 500 despite leading 13 laps.
Race Results Rundown
- After starting on the pole, Alex Bowman would lead a total of 12 laps on his way to finishing fifth. In doing so, he became the first Daytona 500 polesitter to finish in the top five in 22 years -- Bill Elliott in 2001 was the last Daytona 500 polesitter to have that distinction.
- Arguably no driver in the Daytona 500 battled back from more than Ryan Blaney. Blaney suffered major right front damage in a crash on Lap 117, brought another caution out when he had a tire go down, and then was involved in the crash on the final lap. Despite all that, Blaney was credited with a top-10 finish in eighth.
- Speaking of battling back, Riley Herbst had quite the Daytona 500 debut. A miscommunication and late call to pit road led to him spinning out on pit entry during green flag stops, and the ensuing commitment line violation led to Herbst being as many as two laps down. But by race's end, Herbst was back on the lead lap and finished his Cup Series debut in 10th -- one of two Rick Ware Racing cars to finish in the top 15, as teammate Cody Ware was credited with a 14th-place finish.
- On the final lap, Travis Pastrana was in the mix in the lead pack when a bump draft from Aric Almirola spun him into Kyle Larson to trigger the race-ending crash. Despite that, Pastrana's Daytona 500 debut was a successful one -- he finished 11th and was credited with leading two laps during green flag pit stops.
- Another driver who benefitted from overtime to take home a solid Daytona 500 finish was Zane Smith. In his second Cup start, Smith came back from losing a lap to finish 13th in just his second Cup start. That capped off a successful Speedweeks for Smith, who won the Craftsman Truck Series season opener for the second year in a row on Friday.
- IndyCar's Conor Daly accomplished a great deal simply overcoming adversity to qualify for the Daytona 500, but his first try at Daytona would only offer him more adversity: Daly was never a factor and finished six laps down.
- Jimmie Johnson made it look like old times in his return to the Cup Series, running in the lead pack throughout the day and finishing seventh in Stage 1. Unfortunately, Johnson's day would come to an end after he was collected in the big wreck in the first overtime, finishing 31st.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s 199-race winless streak had been the longest active winless streak in the Cup Series. The new longest active winless streak belongs to Michael McDowell, whose only win (the 2021 Daytona 500) came 71 races ago. McDowell finished 28th after being collected in a crash with 18 laps to go.
Next Race
The NASCAR Cup Series will now start the bulk of its early regular season with a West Coast swing, beginning with the final race at Auto Club Speedway's original two-mile configuration. The Pala Casino 400 is next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox.