With an incredible, fiery, final-round crash involving Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell took the plunge to win the Daytona 500 in 2021. This is McDowell’s first NASCAR Cup Series in its 14th season.
McDowell was first when the warning flag came out after the crash on Lap 200, only to knock out Chase Elliott and win the first Daytona 500 for Front Row Motorsports. The only time McDowell led the race was after the crash.
McDowell’s victory was the culmination of an extraordinarily long day – and night – at Daytona International Speedway. The race ended about 20 minutes after midnight in the eastern time zone – about nine hours after the green flag waved for the first time after a weather delay of more than five and a half hours brought things to a standstill. The red flag came out after a round 14 accident in which 16 of the 40 cars in the field were involved.
Denny Hamlin, who led nearly half of the race, finished fifth. He won Phase One and Phase Two, but fell out of the lead by about 30 laps during the last cycle of the green flag pit. Hamlin failed in his quest to become the first rider to win three consecutive Daytona 500 races. Three other drivers before him – Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995), Cale Yarborough (1983, 1984) and Richard Petty (1973, 1974) – won the Daytona 500 in rugby years.
Brad Keselowski, who finished 13th, was disappointed. He was winning his first Daytona 500 victory, which would have put him in the final of the “Crown Jewel” races he still had to take home.
Back to McDowell, who is now the 40th rider to win the Great American Race and take home the Harley J. Earl Trophy. He is the eighth rider to win his first Cup Series race in the Daytona 500. Trevor Bayne was the most recent rider to do so in 2011. McDowell also beat his ticket to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series.