His childlike cursive stated he wanted to win the race in 1998. With Junior out, Hamlin became the clear favorite, if he could get his auto in clean air.
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“I blew it”, Hamlin said.
But Sunday belonged, unequivocally, to Hamlin, who went from a solid run, to the pinnacle of his career, all in the span of a single lap. “I don’t have a championship yet, so this is the biggest win”, said Hamlin, 35, who was in fourth position with one lap to go.
That left Hamlin and Truex Jr., considered an ally as a fellow Toyota driver, going at it down the stretch.
They sped to the line side by side and a photo finish showed Hamlin the victor by barely a fender.
Hamlin surged past Martin Truex Jr. winning by 0.01 of a second; making it the closets finish in Daytona 500 history. “This wouldn’t be possible if this wasn’t Toyotas sticking together all race long”.
Joe Gibbs is a three-time SuperBowl champion coach and four-time NASCAR Cup champion team owner, but this was his only victory in the “Great American Race” apart from Dale Jarrett passing “The Intimidator”, the late Dale Earnhardt, on the last lap in 1993.
When Grubb came in, Wheeler had more responsibilities so Grubb could get acclimated to the JGR way. I’ve had two from an occupational standpoint. For one day, Denver made a big splash in the world of NASCAR.
Matt Kenseth, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, had been leading entering Turn 3, but when he saw Hamlin charging he pulled up and attempted to throw a block. Only the move he made to defend for Kenseth led to Hamlin winning the closest Daytona 500 in history. I know we got to the outside of the 18 (Kyle Busch), the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and then the 20 (Matt Kenseth) came up to block high.
“I had no anticipations of winning this race on the white-flag [penultimate] lap”, Hamlin said. Really what would happen is many times at the race track, my understanding was, Denny would talk to the crew chief but he also would turn and talk to Wheels.
Truex, who spun the loss as a positive in that he proved to JGR that he and Furniture Row Racing will be strong partners, wasn’t sure what he could have done differently. I saw the pylon change and blink at the last second for the 11.
“It’s hard to make those decisions”.
“I never thought I would get back to the Cup side this quickly”. Busch followed just behind in third. Kevin Harvick was fourth and Carl Edwards fifth. It comes three months after Busch gave Toyota its first championship.
“When we came into the sport, we struggled”. Gibbs said. “It’s been 23 since we were able to win one”. I want to get some of these accomplishments done because ultimately you’re defined by the big moments. You spend all that time and resources and everybody working on things, and then you come down and have something happen. I heard on the radio people were all insane, excited.
It was a odd Daytona 500, considering the lack of a massive wreck, but a welcome sight for those tired of the dangers of restrictor-plate racing that NASCAR so willingly allows. “I’ll put it in front of the Indy 500, which was a pretty special one back in 2003”. JGR teammate Edwards spent much of the race a lap down after hitting the wall on lap 57.
“It’s heart-wrenching that none of the freshmen class are still with us”, Wilson said.
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The next day in second practice, all five Toyota lined up and drafted for 15 laps.
