Denny Hamlin has been unable to get a win in the Daytona 500 or at Daytona International Speedway, but that is due to change.
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Earnhardt Jr., who was driving a vehicle nicknamed “Amelia” that had taken him to Victory Lane in two points-paying restrictor plate races previous year, made no excuses for the incident that took him out of Sunday’s race.
Elliott and his team managed to fix the auto enough to get it back on the track, but he returned 40 laps down and finished 37th. In this case, it was Joey Logano providing a steady shove to Chase Elliott, pushing them away from the pack en route to a one-two finish respectively. Elliott may not have felt the same way. Busch has the best driver rating of anyone in the race at 96.2 and he is a former victor at the track, though not the Daytona 500. Earnhardt Jr. was the heavy favorite coming into the race and early on, it looked like he was going to be the guy to beat in Florida.
So Earnhardt’s intent and desire for Sunday are absolutely clear, and through one week of Speedweeks, it’s developing as a Hendrick Motorsports vs. Joe Gibbs Racing showdown, with a possible challenge from Team Penske.
Earnhardt was credited with a 36th-place finish.
“I’m not sure, just got turned around there off of 4”, Elliott said. Elliott’s chance was over at the start.
Stewart, who plans to rejoin the circuit for his final NASCAR season, says he still has quite a ways to go in the recovery process but plans to visit an upcoming race within the next few weeks. “That’s not the end of the story that any of us wanted to see”. It gave Hamlin his first Daytona 500 victory in 10 tries, and Toyota its first in “The Great American Race”.
Despite the initial concern, Logano was beyond pleased with the race with Elliott, saying he would make the same maneuver with a win on the line.
Elliott replaced four-time champion Jeff Gordon in the iconic 24 at Hendrick. “I was having so much fun I hate that we’re standing here right now”. He did – just with a lengthy hiatus in the race.
Elliott, just 20 years old becomes the youngest XFINITY Series victor.
With Elliott’s trouble, the streak of 500s not won by the pole-sitter reached 16. He had led twice for 15 laps but seemed trapped in the middle of the field. “This is Daytona. I’m just happy to be here”. We gotta do a little more drafting I think there the next time we come back and be ready for the balance and the things they threw at us today. Air got in between the spoilers to send him sliding between Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards. He’d run some of the fastest speeds in practice and qualifying, and he’d won one of the Duels on Thursday night.
His Chevrolet hit an interior wall and then ricocheted into the grass, where Earnhardt found himself stuck.
The 88 truly had the wind knocked out of it.
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“All the downforce there”, Earnhardt said. I thought we were wrecked as I didn’t know if we were going to make it across the line. I just got it out of shape there.
