Daytona Beach, Florida Someone had to take a step to win the Daytona 500, and maybe Michael McDowell would have pulled out of the traffic to upset a monster. McDowell never has to play his hand.
He went through an incredible, fiery, last-round accident involving Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to get a big upset early Monday morning. It was the traveler’s first NASCAR Cup series in its 14th season, says CBS Sports.
McDowell was a 100-1 underdog when the race began Sunday afternoon, winning for the first time in the start of the 358 Cup when the checkered flag finally waved about 15 minutes after midnight. The race was stopped for almost six hours by rain and ended nine hours after the green flag was waved at Daytona International Speedway.
“So many years just to grind it out and hope for an opportunity like this,” McDowell said. “Such a great way to get a first win – a Daytona 500. Are you kidding me?”
NASCAR’s season opener was full of storylines. Denny Hamlin tried to secure a third consecutive Daytona 500 victory, and the team he started with Michael Jordan debuted with manager Bubba Wallace.
Hamlin led nearly half of the race, but finished fifth, CBS Sports reports, adding that three other riders ahead of him – Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995), Cale Yarborough (1983, 1984) and Richard Petty (1973, 1974) – – won the Daytona 500 in rugby years.
Kyle Larson was back in exile after nearly a year for using a racial outfielder, and reigning cup champion Chase Elliott tried his first Daytona 500 victory.
And at the very back of the field, Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope, 1990, he said would be his last NASCAR start. At 62, he was the oldest rider in the field, and his troubled victory 31 years ago is considered the greatest in racing history.
McDowell did not challenge Cope for the distinction because McDowell is considered a talented superspeedway racer who just had to be in the right place to eventually win.
He watched and waited as he chased Team Penske teammates Logano and Keselowski, and it was Keselowski who finally broke free from the parade of cars. Keselowski tried to overtake Logano, but the teammates made contact and caused a disappointment all over Daytona International Speedway.
“I wanted to make the pass to win the Daytona 500, and it was really bad,” Keselowski said. “I do not feel I have made a mistake, but I can not drive everyone’s cars. So frustrating. ‘
Logano had no explanation for the end.
“Pandemonium, I think. Chaos has struck,” he said.
It was indeed chaos when McDowell cleared up the crash. The collisions were one on top of the other, flames erupting all over the track as McDowell dragged Elliott and Austin Dillon until NASCAR finally sounded a warning.
A bunch of solid contenders were knocked off just 15 laps of the race by a 16-car accident that started at the front of the field that diluted the pack.