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NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona 500

Daytona International Speedway

February 14th, 2021

Race #1 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Laps Scheduled: 200
Miles Raced : 500.0
Time of Race : 03 Hours 27 minutes 44 seconds
Average Speed: 144.416 mph
Margin of Victory : Under caution
Cautions: 7
Caution Laps: 40
Lead Changes: 22

Michael McDowell crosses the finish line to win — Daytona Beach, Florida - February 14th, 2021: Michael McDowell, driver of the #34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, crosses the finish line to win during the NASCAR Cup Series 63rd Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Photo by Chris Graythen | Getty Images

Driver	ST	50%	10%	FIN	HI	LW	AVG	PC D	Pass	Passed	PS D	Q PASS	Fast	%T15	TOT Led	Laps	Rating	TOT PTS
Michael McDowell	17	18	5	1	1	35	13.8	+16	102	97	+5	71	7	51.5%	1	200	94.2	44
Chase Elliott	12	8	8	2	1	16	8.1	+10	131	133	-2	122	3	99.5%	3	200	103.4	42
Austin Dillon	4	4	7	3	1	16	6.1	+1	108	115	-7	97	2	99.5%	7	200	108.5	48
Kevin Harvick	8	14	2	4	1	17	6.0	+4	109	106	+3	102	3	98.0%	17	200	107.7	42
Denny Hamlin	25	3	12	5	1	38	6.0	+20	78	85	-7	64	5	91.5%	98	200	119.6	52
Ryan Preece	11	10	10	6	2	19	9.3	+5	132	124	+8	114	9	97.5%	0	200	97.9	40
Ross Chastain	34	9	6	7	1	34	12.4	+27	121	113	+8	72	7	77.5%	0	200	97.1	32
Jamie McMurray	19	15	13	8	2	30	16.7	+11	87	86	+1	41	8	54.5%	0	200	85.3	29
Corey Lajoie	16	17	14	9	4	24	14.4	+7	107	124	-17	76	8	69.5%	0	200	90.8	28
Kyle Larson	13	7	11	10	1	18	9.3	+3	126	106	+20	112	6	95.0%	1	200	96.4	37
Cole Custer	27	16	3	11	1	37	12.8	+16	125	118	+7	95	6	71.5%	1	200	84.4	27
Joey Logano	9	6	1	12	1	24	6.5	-3	158	150	+8	147	6	97.0%	26	199	104.4	33
Brad Keselowski	24	12	4	13	1	39	11.8	+11	117	130	-13	104	6	85.5%	0	199	90.3	25
Kyle Busch	10	2	9	14	1	16	5.1	-4	110	111	-1	102	1	100.0%	0	199	114.6	25
Austin Cindric	39	5	15	15	1	39	10.4	+24	91	99	-8	74	8	83.0%	2	199	91.5	0
Christopher Bell	5	1	16	16	1	24	11.1	-11	108	95	+13	69	11	52.5%	32	199	97.3	26
Bubba Wallace	6	13	17	17	1	39	11.8	-11	132	114	+18	96	10	64.0%	1	198	87.5	32
Ricky Stenhouse Jr	21	11	18	18	4	28	15.3	+3	114	114	+0	68	2	48.5%	0	198	71.0	19
Chase Briscoe	30	24	19	19	1	38	22.0	+11	24	25	-1	0	7	2.0%	0	197	62.6	18
Joey Gase	28	20	20	20	11	37	20.5	+8	38	61	-23	4	0	2.5%	0	196	61.3	17
Cody Ware	35	23	21	21	11	39	22.4	+14	28	35	-7	0	0	2.5%	0	196	59.2	16
Kurt Busch	20	25	24	22	10	29	24.6	-2	43	36	+7	20	7	2.0%	0	195	60.9	15
BJ McLeod	38	21	23	23	2	38	20.4	+15	43	51	-8	0	0	7.0%	0	195	62.3	0
Josh Bilicki	37	22	22	24	11	40	22.3	+13	22	50	-28	1	0	2.0%	0	194	57.7	13
Martin Truex Jr	26	28	25	25	17	32	26.5	+1	44	18	+26	0	23	0.0%	0	193	55.5	12
William Byron	2	27	26	26	2	32	26.8	-24	39	34	+5	0	2	0.0%	0	191	51.0	11
Tyler Reddick	29	26	27	27	14	29	26.0	+2	42	37	+5	4	3	0.5%	0	188	53.2	10
Kaz Grala	40	19	28	28	1	40	22.4	+12	35	31	+4	0	4	7.0%	10	115	67.6	9
Quin Houff	33	29	29	29	10	38	28.1	+4	20	32	-12	2	0	1.5%	0	37	43.3	8
Ryan Blaney	14	30	30	30	6	21	28.9	-16	35	44	-9	15	0	4.0%	0	14	43.3	7
Chris Buescher	22	31	31	31	14	25	30.3	-9	18	22	-4	2	0	0.5%	0	14	37.2	6
Anthony Alfredo	36	32	32	32	20	36	31.5	+4	33	24	+9	0	0	0.0%	0	14	37.0	5
Matt DiBenedetto	23	33	33	33	12	34	32.2	-10	42	35	+7	12	0	1.0%	0	14	36.5	4
Aric Almirola	3	34	34	34	1	12	31.9	-31	14	22	-8	14	0	6.5%	0	13	41.5	3
Alex Bowman	1	35	35	35	1	14	33.0	-34	15	27	-12	15	0	6.5%	1	13	40.7	2
Daniel Suarez	15	36	36	36	8	18	34.4	-21	37	34	+3	27	0	5.5%	0	13	35.5	1
David Ragan	18	37	37	37	10	21	35.5	-19	41	43	-2	30	0	5.0%	0	13	30.7	1
Ryan Newman	7	38	38	38	1	15	35.9	-31	32	36	-4	29	0	6.5%	0	13	30.8	1
Erik Jones	31	39	39	39	9	35	37.8	-8	49	29	+20	19	0	1.5%	0	13	30.3	1
Derrike Cope	32	40	40	40	21	35	39.8	-8	5	14	-9	0	0	0.0%	0	3	23.2	1

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Race Fast Facts

Daytona International Speedway
63rd Annual DAYTONA 500
Race Winner: Michael McDowell
Age: 36
Team : No. 34 - Love's Travel Stops Ford
Owner: Front Row Motorsports
Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer
Michael McDowell won the 63rd Annual DAYTONA 500, his first victory in 358 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his first victory and seventh top-10 finish in 20 races at Daytona International Speedway.
Chase Elliott (second) posted his second top-10 finish in 11 races at Daytona International Speedway.
Austin Dillon (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 16 races at Daytona International Speedway.
Chase Briscoe (19th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Eight drivers posted their first career NASCAR Cup Series victory with a win in the Daytona 500 ? Tiny Lund (1963), Mario Andretti (1967), Pete Hamilton (1970), Derrike Cope (1990), Sterling Marlin (1994), Michael Waltrip (2001), Trevor Bayne (2011) and Michael McDowell (2021). Three other drivers posted their career-first victory in (points-paying) qualifying races at Daytona: Johnny Rutherford (1963), Bobby Isaac (1964) and Earl Balmer (1966)..
McDowell?s 358 starts are the second-most in series history by a driver before their first win; behind Michael Waltrip with 463 starts before his first win in the 2001 Daytona 500.
This crew chief Drew Blickensderfer's second win in the Daytona 500 - 2009 Matt Kenseth, 2021 Michael McDowell.
This is Front Row Motorsport?s first win the Daytona 500.
This is Ford's 16th victory in the Daytona 500.

Race Recap

Michael McDowell pulls off a stunner with last-lap Daytona 500 victory

February 15th, 2021

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

In a stunning upset at the end of an action-filled, rain-interrupted Daytona 500, Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series victory after charging into the lead during a brutal multicar wreck in Turn 3 on the final lap.

"I can't believe it," McDowell said. "I've got to thank God. So many years of just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I've got to thank (team owner) Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I'm so thankful.

"What a great way to get a first victory—in the Daytona 500!"

In fact, McDowell, who led only the final lap at 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, is the eighth driver to get is first Cup win in the Great American Race. His victory is the third for Front Row Motorsports—all coming in the No. 34 Ford with three different drivers: David Ragan at Talladega, Chris Buescher at Pocono and McDowell at Daytona.

Reigning series champion Chase Elliott finished second after contact between the Team Penske Fords of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano ignited the final wreck, sending the Toyota of Kyle Busch rocketing into the outside wall. When NASCAR illuminated the caution lights, McDowell was in the lead over Elliott by a car-length.

"I saw the lights come on (for the caution), and I knew it was over right then," Elliott said. "We had a fast car. We weren't as good as I thought we were on Thursday (in the Duel 150-mile qualifying race). I thought we did a really good job of executing today, staying out of trouble.

"That's not something I've done a very good job of here in this race, so I'm glad we could at least finish this race and have something to build on for when we come back and try to do better."

Austin Dillon ran third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, who fell short in his attempt to win a record third straight Daytona 500. Hamlin won the first two stages but lost the lead during the final cycle of green-flag pit stops when the small contingent of Toyotas got separated while exiting pit road.

Hamlin took the lead in the second stage after a cycle of green-flag pit stops and held it through the fifth caution of the race, which waved when Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell cut a left rear tire and spun into the Chevrolet of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

At that point, Hamlin had led 58 laps, bringing his total of laps led in the Daytona 500 to 434, fifth-all-time and one ahead of Bobby Allison. Hamlin had led 34 consecutive laps to win Stage 1 after racing resumed on Sunday night. He finished with a race-high 98 laps led.

On Lap 14, before a long rain delay, off-center contact from Bell's Toyota to the rear bumper of Aric Almirola's Ford sent Almirola spinning near the front of the field, triggering a massive 16-car pile-up that inexorably altered the complexion of the race.

We were just getting pushed too hard too early," Almirola said. "It's a long, long race. Man, we were in a fine position, just sitting there riding around in the top two, three, and the 20 (Bell) just came with a big run and hit me really hard in a bad spot and it turned me to the right and tore up our race car and ended our Daytona 500 way too early."

Collected in the wreck were: Ryan Newman, making his first Daytona 500 start since the devastating last-lap wreck that put him in the hospital a year ago; Erik Jones, in his first start in a points race for his new team, Richard Petty Motorsports; Daniel Suarez, in his first run with newly formed Trackhouse Racing, a joint venture between Justin Marks and rapper Pitbull; and pole winner Alex Bowman, whose No. 48 Chevrolet was wiped out when Almirola shot up the track into the side of his car and rammed it into the wall.

"It looks like the No. 10 (Almirola) kind of got turned sideways there, and I was the guy that got ran into," Bowman said after an obligatory trip to the infield care center. "Bummer – I hate it for (sponsor) Ally. Obviously, we had a really fast Camaro. The Chevrolets were working good together; hopefully, a Chevy still ends up in Victory Lane.

"Hats off to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports; they built some really fast race cars. Hate that superspeedway racing works out that way sometimes, but that's just part of the game."

Also heavily damaged in the melee were the cars of William Byron, Kurt Busch, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray and Matt DiBenedetto. To add insult to injury, nearby lightning strikes delayed the restart of the race, and heavy rains followed shortly thereafter.

Five hours and 40 minutes later, after the rain abated and the track dried, engines were re-fired at 9:07 p.m., and the race resumed with 24 cars on the lead lap.

Notes: In his first points race for the new 23XI Racing team co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, Bubba Wallace ran near the front of the pack throughout the race but lost a lap with an unscheduled pit stop for a vibration on Lap 178 of 200. Wallace was caught up in the last-lap wreck and finished 17th... Kyle Larson ran 10th in his first trip in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet...Austin Cindric's strong Cup debut ended in the last-lap wreck that claimed three Team Penske cars...Ryan Preece, Ross Chastain, Jamie McMurray and Corey LaJoie claimed the sixth through ninth finishing positions, respectively.