Hamlin Wins Emotional Daytona 500

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon from the Daytona International Speedway after three late crashes took out most of the field.

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The victory was Hamlin’s second in NASCAR’s biggest event, and he had to hold off his teammate Kyle Busch to get to victory lane.  Hamlin pulled down in front of Busch after the final restart, and he was able to stay in the lead when Busch and Joey Logano started fighting for second.

Hamlin said he will enjoy this Daytona 500 win more than his first victory in 2016.

“I’m just going to enjoy it more,” Hamlin said.  “I think I was just so dumbfounded by everything that happened in the first one…this one lets me soak it in a little more.”

It was an emotional victory for the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization.  In the offseason, team founder Joe Gibbs’ son JD died following a brain illness.

Hamlin said the victory was more special to him because JD Gibbs discovered Hamlin and brought him to JGR.

“The whole family…they’ve done so much for me over the course of my career,” Hamlin said.  “This one’s for JD.  His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing.”

Busch finished second to his teammate, once again failing to win NASCAR’s biggest event.

Busch said with so little cars running at the finish that he couldn’t have done anything differently.

“There wasn’t enough cars out there, really,” Busch said.  “With six cars running around at the end, I don’t know if anything would have been any different.”

“It’s awesome to see a JGR car in victory lane for Joe and JD…but it’s very bittersweet…for all the guys trying to get our Daytona 500 victory.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kyle Busch

3. Erik Jones

4. Joey Logano

5. Michael McDowell

6. Ty Dillon

7. Kyle Larson

8. Ryan Preece

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Ross Chastain

11. Alex Bowman

12. Brad Keselowski

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Ryan Newman

15. Parker Kligerman

16. Austin Dillon

17. Chase Elliott

18. Corey LaJoie

19. BJ McLeod

20. Clint Bowyer

21. William Byron

22. Jamie McMurray

23. Brendan Gaughan

24. Landon Cassill

25. Kurt Busch

26. Kevin Harvick

27. Tyler Reddick

28. Matt DiBenedetto

29. Paul Menard

30. David Ragan

31. Ryan Blaney

32. Aric Almirola

33. Daniel Suarez

34. Daniel Hemric

35. Martin Truex Jr.

36. Matt Tifft

37. Chris Buescher

38. Bubba Wallace

39. Cody Ware

40. Casey Mears

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