Rookie Austin Cindric Holds Off Bubba Wallace to Win Daytona 500

Austin Cindric won the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon from the Daytona International Speedway to pick up his first career victory.

Cindric ran up front for most of the day as part of a group of Fords that controlled the lead for a majority of the race.

The 2020 Xfinity Series Champion and Cup Series rookie won in just his eighth career start, and said he was surrounded with great people at his team who helped him get to victory lane to kick off his rookie campaign.

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“I’m surrounded by great people, that’s all there is to it,” Cindric said.  “I know there’s going to be highs and lows when you’re a rookie in a field of drivers this strong.  I’m just grateful for the opportunity and excited for the climb…we’ve got ahead of us.”

Cindric was the leader before they headed to Overtime, and was able to stay at the front of the field with help from his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Headed into the trioval, Blaney tried going to the outside of Cindric following a push from Bubba Wallace, but the rookie was able to throw a block to hold off the field.

Cindric thanked his teammate following the race for the push that helped get to the lead.

“I appreciate Ryan being a great teammate,” Cindric said.  “Obviously he wants to win one.”

Wallace picked up his second runner-up finish in the Daytona 500, and said he was disappointed with this one.

“I’m going to be pissed off about this one for awhile,” Wallace said.  “I was happy on the first second place we got a couple years ago; this one just sucks when you’re that close.”

“I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off.  Just dejected; the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work…from everybody at 23XI.”

Unofficial results:

1. Austin Cindric

2. Bubba Wallace

3. Chase Briscoe

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Aric Almirola

6. Kyle Busch

7. Michael McDowell

8. David Ragan

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Chase Elliott

11. Ty Dillon

12. Daniel Hemric

13. Martin Truex Jr.

14. Corey LaJoie

15. Landon Cassill

16. Chris Buescher

17. Cody Ware

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Kurt Busch

20. Cole Custer

21. Joey Logano

22. Jacques Villeneuve

23. Justin Haley

24. Alex Bowman

25. Austin Dillon

26. Kaz Grala

27. BJ McLeod

28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

29. Erik Jones

30. Kevin Harvick

31. Noah Gragson

32. Kyle Larson

33. Todd Gilliland

34. Christopher Bell

35. Tyler Reddick

36. Greg Biffle

37. Denny Hamlin

38. William Byron

39. Harrison Burton

40. Ross Chastain

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Blaney Wins at Daytona, Reddick Takes Final Playoff Spot Over Dillon

Ryan Blaney won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night in NASCAR’s regular season finale.

Blaney took the lead on the final restart, and was able to hold off the field as a wreck took out most of the leaders heading into the final corner.  Blaney was ahead of Chris Buescher as the caution flag flew, and he was able to head to victory lane for the second-consecutive weekend.

Blaney said he had to use his superspeedway experience to choose the right line while in the lead.

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“You never know how the end of these are going to turn out,” Blaney said.  “Down the back you just don’t know what lane is going to get a bigger run.”

Blaney said the push from Corey LaJoie on the restart is what helped him get to victory lane.

“The biggest thing is just getting the push,” Blaney said.  “It really all started with [LaJoie] giving me a good push and getting me out front.”

With only one spot open for the Playoffs heading into the regular-season finale, Buescher was in position late to get the victory and lock himself into the Playoffs.

Buescher came up one spot short after restarting as the leader heading in overtime, and said he will be thinking about his final restart.

“I’m sure I’ll play it back and find something else different,” Buescher said.  “Top line wasn’t organized at the start and bottom was; they were digging.  Difficult ending to a day…to miss that Playoff spot by one spot.”

Tyler Reddick came into the race in the final Playoff spot, but his chances seemed to diminish throughout the race as his teammate Austin Dillon picked up points in the first two stages before Reddick was involved in a big accident towards the end of the race.

Reddick’s team got the car back out on track as multiple winless drivers battled for the win in the closing laps.  Reddick was able to sneak through the last-lap accident that collected Dillon and locked himself into the final Playoff spot.

Reddick said it was a stressful race with everything that went wrong.

“Almost felt helpless there, but we didn’t give up and we fought through it,” Reddick said.  “I knew it was about 14 points I had on that green-white-checkered.  It was just go hard and try to stay up tight to the cars ahead of me and keep the nose out of clean air.”

Dillon said his team fought hard with a fast car before their luck ran out at the end of the race to end their Playoff push.

“We fought our butts off in the stages; made some good moves to get stages points,” Dillon said.  “We fought hard.  The car was fast…unfortunate that we’re not in the Playoffs.  We gave it all we could and fought to the very end.”

Unofficial results:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Chris Buescher

3. Bubba Wallace

4. Ryan Newman

5. Ryan Preece

6. Tyler Reddick

7. Justin Haley

8. Alex Bowman

9. Chase Elliott

10. BJ McLeod

11. Josh Bilicki

12. Erik Jones

13. Kurt Busch

14. Denny Hamlin

15. Aric Almirola

16. Kevin Harvick

17. Corey LaJoie

18. Austin Dillon

19. Ross Chastain

20. Daniel Suarez

21. Kyle Larson

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Joey Logano

25. Cole Custer

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Anthony Alfredo

28. David Starr

29. Cody Ware

30. Martin Truex Jr.

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Joey Gase

33. Christopher Bell

34. Brad Keselowski

35. Kyle Busch

36. Kaz Grala

37. Landon Cassill

38. William Byron

39. Quin Houff

40. Michael McDowell

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Christopher Bell Picks Up First Victory in Wild Daytona Road Course Race

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Christopher Bell picked up his first career victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 from the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Sunday afternoon.

Bell erased Joey Logano’s three-second lead in the closing laps and was able to make the winning pass in the chicane coming to the white flag.  Bell pulled away over the final lap, and he picked up his first victory in just his second start with Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Bell pitted for tires under one of the final cautions, and he said that’s what made the difference in the race against Logano.

“Whenever we pitted and I came out, I liked where I lined up,” Bell said.  “Honestly didn’t think I was going to get there.  [Logano] really struggled coming out of Turn 6 one time and it allowed me to close the gap.”

Bell’s first victory followed Michael McDowell’s first victory in last weekend’s Daytona 500.  It is just the third time in NASCAR history that two first-time winners opened up the season, and the first since 1950.

Bell said this victory was at the end of a very long road to NASCAR’s top series.

“I’ve prepared my whole life to race in the Cup Series,” Bell said.  “I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to run in Cup.  This is definitely one of the highlights of my life so far.”

Logano said he had too many laps to run on old tires to make their strategy work.

“One more caution lap would have been enough to at least have a door-to-door finish across the line,” Logano said.  “[Bell’s] the one that got through with tires.  It’s hard when he’s catching you a second a lap.”

Unofficial results:

1. Christopher Bell

2. Joey Logano

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Kurt Busch

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Kevin Harvick

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Michael McDowell

9. Ryan Preece

10. Alex Bowman

11. Chris Buescher

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Cole Custer

14. Erik Jones

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Aric Almirola

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Ty Dillon

20. Ryan Newman

21. Chase Elliott

22. Anthony Alfredo

23. James Davison

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

24. Justin Haley

25. Cody Ware

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Garrett Smithley

28. Scott Heckert

29. Timmy Hill

30. Kyle Larson

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Chase Briscoe

33. William Byron

34. Austin Dillon

35. Kyle Busch

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Matt DiBenedetto

38. Tyler Reddick

39. Ross Chastain

40. Quin Houff

McDowell Surprises with Daytona 500 Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 from the Daytona International Speedway on Sunday night.

McDowell was running third headed down the backstretch while he pushed Brad Keselowski to the front. After Keselowski made contact with leader Joey Logano, McDowell was able to sneak past as a massive crash erupted in the pack.

McDowell was ahead of Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon at the time of the caution, which officially froze the field and awarded McDowell his first career victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.

McDowell said he was excited to pick up his first victory after 14 years in the Cup Series.

“Just can’t believe it,” McDowell said.  “So many years just grinding it out for an opportunity like this.  Such a great way to get a first victory."

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

With the laps winding down, a group of Ford drivers led the field.  Logano, Kevin Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell ran single-file until the final lap.  McDowell said the manufacturer teamwork helped give them all a chance at the victory.

“We had our Ford partners at the end and they all crashed; luckily I was able to make it through,” McDowell said. 

Elliott was second at the moment of the caution, and he said he knew he came up short when he saw the caution lights come on.

“I don’t think it was very close,” Elliott said.  “Got next to him and saw the lights come on, so I knew it was over right there.”

Elliott, who began his championship defense on Sunday, said he was just excited to finish NASCAR biggest event after having bad luck in years past.

“Staying out of trouble…that’s not something I’ve done a very good job of here in this race,” Elliott said.  “We finished one, so I’m pretty pleased with that.”

Unofficial results:

1. Michael McDowell

2. Chase Elliott

3. Austin Dillon

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Ryan Preece

7. Ross Chastain

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Corey LaJoie

10. Kyle Larson

11. Cole Custer

12. Joey Logano

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Kyle Busch

15. Austin Cindric

16. Christopher Bell

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Chase Briscoe

20. Joey Gase

21. Cody Ware

22. Kurt Busch

23. BJ McLeod

24. Josh Bilicki

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. William Byron

27. Tyler Reddick

28. Kaz Grala

29. Quin Houff

30. Ryan Blaney

31. Chris Buescher

32. Anthony Alfredo

33. Matt DiBenedetto

34. Aric Almirola

35. Alex Bowman

36. Daniel Suarez

37. David Ragan

38. Ryan Newman

39. Erik Jones

40. Derrike Cope

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Kicks Off Season with Busch Clash Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the season-opening Busch Clash from Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night to kick off the 2021 NASCAR season.

The Busch Clash, the customary non-points race that begins NASCAR’s season every year, was run on Daytona’s road course for the first time.

Busch was running a distant third when the field took the white flag, but he was able to take the lead coming out of the final corner after Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney got together racing for the win. 

Busch, in his first race with a new crew chief after a single-win season in 2020, said he hopes the two can continue to grow their relationship as Busch hunts for his third Cup championship.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“Can’t say enough about Ben Beshore and this whole M&M’s team,” Busch said.  “I’ve been through a couple crew chiefs, and it always seems to go well for a little while and then it fizzles out.”

After the COVID pandemic caused NASCAR to change the 2020 schedule multiple times, NASCAR raced on the Daytona road course for the first time last August.  Now officially the second race of the season, Busch said his team looked at this as a test session for the points-paying event in two weeks.

“We had a great car here tonight,” Busch said.  “We worked a lot over the winter time and focusing on what we can do in this race to know what we needed to get better for race number two, coming up in two weeks.”

Elliott and Blaney, known as two of the closest friends in the garage, had fast cars throughout the night but got together racing for the lead in the final chicane coming to the checkered flag.

Elliott said it was a move he had to try with a win in sight.

“I can’t be sorry for going for the win, but certainly didn’t mean to wreck him,” Elliott said.  “Neither one of us won; that’s the big thing.  You’ve got to go for it here in an event like this.”

Blaney, who had fresher tires over the final run, said he had to use up more of his car than he’d hoped while he chased Elliott down in the final laps.

“We were just racing hard and I had a little bit fresher tires there,” Blaney said.  “I tried to protect and drove in the last corner really deep to try to make sure I didn’t get dive-bombed like that.  Learned something for next week…and excited to get to the [Daytona] 500 this Sunday.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Elliott

3. Joey Logano

4. Tyler Reddick

5. William Byron

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Alex Bowman

8. Erik Jones

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Austin Dillon

12. Aric Almirola

13. Ryan Blaney

14. Ryan Newman

15. Kevin Harvick

16. Chris Buescher

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Ty Dillon

19. Kurt Busch

20. Cole Custer

21. Martin Truex Jr.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Byron Wins at Daytona as the Playoff Field is Set

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

William Byron won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night during the regular season finale.

Byron came into the weekend needing a strong finish as he was on the bubble with Matt DiBenedetto and Jimmie Johnson for the final two spots in the Playoffs.  After Johnson was caught up in a late wreck, Byron and DiBenedetto were all but locked in, allowing Byron to focus on the winning moves needed at the end of the race.

Byron found his way to the lead on the final restart, and his teammate Chase Elliott was able to push Byron to the victory and into the Playoffs.

Byron said he was focused on points throughout the race after struggling to pick up stage points early.

“Probably the hardest track to points race,” Byron said.  “We didn’t have a great Stage 2, kind of got back in the pack and got shuffled when everyone went single-file.”

Byron used a late push from Bubba Wallace to get to the front right as Joey Logano got sideways, sparking the accident that collected Johnson.

Byron said he was going for his first career win and a Playoff berth no matter what.

“[Logano and Wallace] made some contact and opened up a hole for me,” Byron said.  “I wasn’t going to lift.  It’s awesome.”

DiBenedetto was the final driver to transfer into the Playoffs, and beat Johnson by six points for the final spot.

DiBenedetto said he was excited to move on and have a shot at the Cup Series Championship.

“We made it, I don’t care how we did it,” DiBenedetto said.  “My goal was to come in here and make it and we had some pretty good competitors, obviously.”

“We’ll celebrate tomorrow and have a good day, then it’s going to be time to get to work.”

DiBenedetto, in his first season with Wood Brothers Racing, said his previous seasons of driving for under-funded teams helped prepare him for the pressure this weekend.

“That was the most stressful situation inside a race car I’ve ever been in my life, hands down,” DiBenedetto said.  “I was calm going into the week, and I really think I have to thank my career path for kind of grooming me for this type of situation.”

“It’s been a tough fight, and it makes me so appreciative of these situations.”

Johnson’s team was able to get his car back on track following his accident, but he fell six points shy of making the Playoffs in his final season.

Johnson said the focus now turns trying to get one final win in the 10 remaining races.

“There’s 10 races left; 10 races to go chase and we’ll have to focus our efforts there,” Johnson said.  “Last three years have been tough, we all know that.  I think we’ve shown some bright spots…Cliff Daniels and these guys on this team have poured their guts out for me.”

“We did all that we could this year; I am so thankful for Hendrick Motorsports and the career that I’ve had here.  I’m not going to dwell on it too much, I don’t know what I could have done differently.”

Unofficial results:

1. William Byron

2. Chase Elliott

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Martin Truex Jr.

5. Bubba Wallace

6. Ryan Blaney

7. Alex Bowman

8. Brendan Gaughan

9. Chris Buescher

10. Brad Keselowski

11. John Hunter Nemechek

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Christopher Bell

14. Michael McDowell

15. Brennan Poole

16. Ross Chastain

17. Jimmie Johnson

18. Aric Almirola

19. Clint Bowyer

20. Kevin Harvick

21. Corey LaJoie

22. Ty Dillon

23. Quin Houff

24. Timmy Hill

25. Austin Dillon

26. Daniel Suarez

27. Joey Logano

28. Matt Kenseth

29. Tyler Reddick

30. Cole Custer

31. Joey Gase

32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

33. Kyle Busch

34. Kurt Busch

35. Erik Jones

37. Ryan Preece

38. Josh Bilicki

39. James Davison

40. JJ Yeley

 Photos courtesy Chris Graythen (Getty Images)

Elliott Wins at Historic Daytona Road Course

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Go Bowling 235 on Sunday afternoon from the Daytona International Speedway road course.

The race was the first on the road course for the NASCAR Cup Series.  The weekend, originally scheduled for Watkins Glen International, was moved to Daytona because of the COVID restrictions in New York.

Daytona’s road course is most famously used every year for IMSA’s Rolex 24 – a 24-hour endurance sports car race run in January – and the majority of the drivers in the field had never raced on the track’s configuration.

Elliott said it was an honor to win the first Cup Series race on the historic layout.

“Such a privilege to be here, I don’t take that for granted,” Elliott said.  “To reflect on the history on what has built this place is very special…striving to be there and maybe one day we can be a part of some great things.”

Elliott, who has become one of the strongest drivers on road courses over the past few seasons, ran up front for most of the day, and had a 10-second lead late in the race.  A caution for Kyle Busch set up a late-race shootout between Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin tried to force Elliott into a mistake, but Elliott said he tried to be perfect over the final three laps.

“I definitely made a few mistakes, that’s for sure,” Elliott said.  “I feel like we did a solid job.  I felt like I could maintain that gap if I just focused on getting a good drive.”

“I was trying to keep it balanced front to rear, and felt like I could mess up pretty easy if I didn’t hit my marks.”

Hamlin said he needed to be a little closer to force Elliott into making a mistake.

“I just would have liked to stay closer to him to put a little pressure on him on entry,” Hamlin said.  “Just wasn’t quite clean enough the last two laps, but I definitely gave myself a chance.”

Unofficial results:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Jimmie Johnson

5. Chris Buescher

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Kaz Grala

8. William Byron

9. Joey Logano

10. Michael McDowell

11. Erik Jones

12. Alex Bowman

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Kurt Busch

15. Matt DiBenedetto

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Kevin Harvick

18. Tyler Reddick

19. Ryan Newman

20. Ty Dillon

21. Christopher Bell

22. Cole Custer

23. Ryan Preece

24. Aric Almirola

25. Bubba Wallace

26. Matt Kenseth

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Brennan Poole

29. Timmy Hill

30. James Davison

31. Ryan Blaney

32. Corey LaJoie

33. Quin Houff

34. JJ Yeley

35. John Hunter Nemechek

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Kyle Busch

38. Stanton Barrett

39. Brendan Gaughan

Photos courtesy Brian Lawdermilk and Chris Graythen (Getty Images).

Denny Hamlin Wins Daytona 500, Newman Taken to Hospital Following Accident

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the 62nd running of the Daytona 500 on Monday night from Daytona International Speedway.

Hamlin won his third Daytona 500 on Sunday following a photo finish with Ryan Blaney.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Hamlin, who was one of the favorites going into the weekend, said it was unexpected to win his second-consecutive Daytona 500.

“I knew [Ryan Newman and Blaney] were going to come with a big run right there; my job was to just not put a block that was going to wreck me,” Hamlin said.  “I got to the 12 [of Blaney’s] bumper, got to pushing him there and I knew I was going to give him a big run.”

Hamlin’s celebration was subdued as teams waited to hear any information on Newman, who wrecked coming to the checkered flag.  Newman was turned into the outside wall, flipped and was hit in the driver’s side by Corey LaJoie. 

Newman was extracted from his car by safety personnel and taken to the local hospital.

Drivers up and down pit road were worried about Newman’s condition.

“We pushed Newman there to the lead, and then we got a push from the 11 [of Hamlin],” Blaney said after finishing second.  “I made a move off turn four on Newman and he blocked it.  I kind of went low and he blocked that, so then I was committed to just pushing him to the win; I guess we got our bumpers hooked up wrong.”

“I hope he’s alright; it looked pretty bad.”

“Number one, we’re praying for Ryan,” Hamlin said.  “I think we take for granted sometimes how safe the cars are.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Ryan Blaney

3. Chris Buescher

4. David Ragan

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Brendan Gaughan

8. Corey LaJoie

9. Ryan Newman

10. Kyle Larson

11. John Hunter Nemechek

12. Austin Dillon

13. Justin Haley

14. Michael McDowell

15. Bubba Wallace

16. Brennan Poole

17. Chase Elliott

18. Erik Jones

19. Matt DiBenedetto

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Christopher Bell

22. Aric Almirola

23. Joey Gase

24. Alex Bowman

25. Ross Chastain

26. Joey Logano

27. Timmy Hill

28. Tyler Reddick

29. Ryan Preece

30. Ty Dillon

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Martin Truex Jr.

33. Kurt Busch

34. Kyle Busch

35. Jimmie Johnson

36. Brad Keselowski

37. Cole Custer

38. BJ McLeod

39. Quin Houff

40. William Byron

Chris Graythen/Getty Images