Practice #1 : Daytona International Speedway

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  • Daytona International Speedway
  • DAYTONA 500
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Alex Bowman
  • Age: 29
  • Team : No. 48 - Ally Chevrolet
  • Owner: Hendrick Motorsports
  • Crew Chief: Blake Harris
  • Alex Bowman won the Busch Light Pole Award for the DAYTONA 500 with a lap of 49.536 seconds, 181.686 mph.
  • This is his fourth pole in 257 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his third DAYTONA 500 pole in 14 races at Daytona International Speedway (2018, 2021, 2023). This is the sixth consecutive DAYTONA 500 start on the front row for Bowman (2018-2023).
  • Kyle Larson (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2023 and his fifth in 18 races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • William Byron (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Daytona International Speedway. It is his first in one race this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (19th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
  • Legacy Motor Club's Jimmie Johnson (No. 84 Chevrolet) and 23XI Racing's Travis Pastrana (No. 67 Toyota) have qualified their open cars on time for the DAYTONA 500.
  • Hendrick Motorsports has won 16 DAYTONA 500 poles, the series-most: Ken Schrader (1988, 1989, 1990), Jeff Gordon (1999, 2015), Jimmie Johnson (2002, 2008), Mark Martin (2010), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2011), Chase Elliott (2016, 2017), Alex Bowman (2018, 2021, 2023), William Byron (2019), Kyle Larson (2022).
  • This is Chevrolet's 11th consecutive DAYTONA 500 pole (2013-2023) and 31st DAYTONA 500 pole total, series-most.

  • Sunday, February 19th, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins longest DAYTONA 500 in two overtimes

In the longest DAYTONA 500 in NASCAR history, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got help from an unexpected source and won the sport's most prestigious race when a wild wreck froze the field in the second overtime.

Stenhouse and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano were battling for the lead on Lap 212 when contact from Aric Almirola's Ford started Travis Pastrana's Toyota spinning in Turn 2. Pastrana's Camry clipped the Chevrolet of Kyle Larson and set it rocketing into the outside wall.

Tires screamed, sparks flew and smoke billowed as the cars of defending race winner Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney all were collected in the chaotic wreck.

But when NASCAR hit the button to illuminate the caution lights, Stenhouse's No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Chevrolet had edged ahead of Logano's Ford, thanks to a timely shove from the third-place finishing Toyota of Christopher Bell, who, like Stenhouse, arrived at the pinnacle of pavement racing from a dirt-track background.

NASCAR declared Stenhouse the winner of the 65th running of the event, a perfect christening of the renewed relationship between the driver and crew chief Mike Kelley, with whom Stenhouse won his two NASCAR Xfinity Series championships more than a decade earlier.

"Yeah, I think this whole off-season Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other," Stenhouse said after climbing from his car. "They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes. We were able to battle back.

"This Kroger Continental team worked really, really hard in off-season, great pit stops, Hendrick engines. Glad a Chevy won.

"Man, this is unbelievable. This was the site of my last win back in 2017. We've worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short. It was a tough season, but, man, we got it done. DAYTONA 500!"

It was a remarkable victory and a perfect highlight for the 75th anniversary of NASCAR racing. Stenhouse is the first driver from a single-car team to win the Great American Race since Trevor Bayne shocked the racing world with the Wood Brothers Racing in 2011.

The win was Stenhouse's third in the Cup Series and first since he took the checkered flag in the Daytona summer race in 2017, snapping a streak of 199 races without a victory. JTG-Daugherty hadn't found Victory Lane since Allmendinger triumphed at Watkins Glen in 2014, a drought of 266 races.

With a push from Kyle Larson after the second overtime restart, Logano held the lead with one lap left.

"Second is the worst, man," Logano lamented. "You're so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and, yeah, you're watching in the mirror and you're three-wide across there. I felt like the three-wide was going a hurt a lane; looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead.

"I knew if I went to the bottom my car didn't handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once and I thought, if I go down there, I'm probably going to get wrecked, and I don't know if I can get down there in time to throw the block (on Stenhouse) and so I didn't want to wreck my car either."

At 212 laps (530 miles), this DAYTONA 500 was three laps and 7.5 miles longer than the 2020 race, which held the previous record.

Chris Buescher finished fourth after leading 32 laps, second most to Keselowski's 42. Pole winner Alex Bowman was fifth, followed by Allmendinger, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain and race rookie Riley Herbst.

Blaney made a remarkable recovery after sustaining serious damage in the first wreck of the afternoon.

Until then, the calm of the first 295 miles of racing gave no indication of the chaos to come.

The race ran without incident until Lap 118, when contact from Kevin Harvick's Ford turned Tyler Reddick's Toyota sideways in Turn 4. After bouncing off the outside wall, Reddick's crippled No. 45 Camry came to rest at the entrance to pit road and was towed to the garage.

The No. 43 Chevrolet of Erik Jones and the No. 9 Camaro of 2020 series champion Chase Elliott also sustained terminal damage in what became a nine-car incident.

Blaney lost a lap on pit road under repair, while others involved—Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez and Martin Truex Jr.—remained on the lead lap.

"It looked like some guys got tangled up, up front," Elliott said. "Those of us in the back were just scattering to kind of miss it. It looked like the No. 5 (Larson) and the No. 43 (Jones) kind of went to the apron.

"By the time we got slowed up, they were coming back across the track, and I was the lucky winner to get there first. It's a bummer—long ways to go. Hate to end the day, but it is what it is."

  • Drivers Entered: 42 (2 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 200
  • Laps Actual: 212 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
  • Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds
  • Time of Race: 3 Hours 38 Minutes 53 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 145.283
  • Cautions: 8 for 38 laps
  • Lead Changes: 52
  • Green Flag Passes: 11,538 (66.3 passes per green flag lap)

  • Daytona International Speedway
  • DAYTONA 500
  • Race Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  • Age: 35
  • Team : No. 47 - Kroger/Cottonelle Chevrolet
  • Owner: JTG Daugherty Racing
  • Crew Chief: Mike Kelley
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the DAYTONA 500, his third victory in 365 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his second victory and fourth top-10 finish in 22 races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Joey Logano (second) posted his 10th top-10 finish in 29 races at Daytona International Speedway. It is his first top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Christopher Bell (third) posted his first top-10 finish in seven races at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Noah Gragson (24th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Today's DAYTONA 500 produced 21 different leaders in the race - tied with 2010 for the second-most all-time in the DAYTONA 500; behind only the 2011 race with 22.
  • Today's DAYTONA 500 produced 52 lead changes, the fourth-most in the history of the Great American Race; behind 2011 (74 lead changes), 1974 (60) and 1983 (58).
  • Today's DAYTONA 500 produced 204 Green Flag Passes For The Lead - which is the most all-time at Daytona International Speedway surpassing the previous record of 177 GFPL set in the 2014 DAYTONA 500.
A
Homestead, Florida - November 19, 2017 : A 'Thank You' message for Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 AXALTA Chevrolet, is displayed on a flag towed by a pickup truck during pre-race ceremonies for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Sarah CrabillGetty Images
DRIVER
DRIVER
#
MAKE
SINGLE BEST LAP
RANK
SPEED
TIME
BHND
LAP
LAPS
TOTAL
MULTI-LAP AVERAGES
5-LAP
10-LAP
15-LAP
20-LAP
25-LAP
30-LAP
10-LAP AVG
SPEED
FROM
TO

Jimmie Johnson
84
Chevrolet
1
194.225
46.338
0.000
28
34
46.696
47.076
47.456
47.480
191.206
24
33
Chase Elliott
9
Chevrolet
2
194.196
46.345
0.006
29
38
46.760
46.933
47.269
47.518
191.779
28
37
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
47
Chevrolet
3
194.183
46.348
0.009
28
37
46.705
46.929
47.384
47.556
191.793
26
35
Alex Bowman
48
Chevrolet
4
194.133
46.360
0.021
29
38
46.686
46.899
47.267
47.510
191.913
28
37
Aric Almirola
10
Ford
5
194.108
46.366
0.027
14
29
46.814
46.930
191.781
5
14
Joey Logano
22
Ford
6
194.095
46.369
0.030
14
36
46.717
46.877
46.982
191.998
6
15
Ryan Blaney
12
Ford
7
194.078
46.373
0.034
14
34
46.712
46.954
47.027
191.689
6
15
Chase Briscoe
14
Ford
8
193.999
46.392
0.054
14
27
46.705
46.876
47.050
192.001
6
15
Kevin Harvick
4
Ford
9
193.932
46.408
0.070
14
17
46.811
46.962
47.028
191.652
6
15
Zane Smith
36
Ford
10
193.894
46.417
0.079
23
31
47.003
47.534
47.925
189.374
20
29
Chris Buescher
17
Ford
11
193.644
46.477
0.139
15
33
46.715
46.950
47.027
47.252
191.701
6
15
Harrison Burton
21
Ford
12
193.523
46.506
0.168
13
33
47.049
47.694
188.712
19
28
Kyle Larson
5
Chevrolet
13
192.868
46.664
0.326
2
22
47.365
47.428
47.540
47.560
189.778
1
10
Erik Jones
43
Chevrolet
14
192.769
46.688
0.350
2
19
47.428
47.447
189.696
1
10
William Byron
24
Chevrolet
15
192.753
46.692
0.354
2
22
47.397
47.460
47.522
47.558
189.650
2
11
Corey Lajoie
7
Chevrolet
16
192.567
46.737
0.399
2
13
47.208
47.250
190.481
1
10
Martin Truex Jr
19
Toyota
17
192.563
46.738
0.400
15
15
47.458
47.487
47.592
189.529
1
10
Ryan Preece
41
Ford
18
192.464
46.762
0.424
4
27
47.091
48.343
186.375
1
10
Ty Dillon
77
Chevrolet
19
192.423
46.772
0.434
2
15
47.399
47.442
47.676
189.717
2
11
Denny Hamlin
11
Toyota
20
192.230
46.819
0.481
15
19
47.397
47.488
47.543
189.525
2
11
Noah Gragson
42
Chevrolet
21
192.127
46.844
0.506
17
20
47.318
47.414
47.506
47.523
189.824
1
10
Ty Gibbs
54
Toyota
22
192.041
46.865
0.527
15
19
47.458
47.538
47.580
189.332
2
11
Brad Keselowski
6
Ford
23
191.677
46.954
0.616
6
26
47.250
47.581
189.187
17
26
BJ McLeod
78
Chevrolet
24
191.673
46.955
0.617
2
7
47.231
0
0
Todd Gilliland
38
Ford
25
191.571
46.980
0.642
6
10
47.401
47.648
188.898
1
10
Michael McDowell
34
Ford
26
191.559
46.983
0.645
6
28
47.401
47.640
47.948
188.934
1
10
Tyler Reddick
45
Toyota
27
190.658
47.205
0.867
3
15
47.433
47.533
189.349
2
11
Christopher Bell
20
Toyota
28
190.625
47.213
0.875
3
11
47.457
47.480
189.556
2
11
Travis Pastrana
67
Toyota
29
190.517
47.240
0.902
4
9
47.544
0
0
Ross Chastain
1
Chevrolet
30
190.392
47.271
0.933
14
17
47.623
47.684
47.779
188.749
5
14
Austin Dillon
3
Chevrolet
31
190.247
47.307
0.969
14
18
47.611
47.717
47.746
188.618
5
14
Kyle Busch
8
Chevrolet
32
190.235
47.310
0.972
14
15
47.620
47.699
47.772
188.687
2
11
Daniel Suarez
99
Chevrolet
33
190.210
47.316
0.978
14
18
47.649
47.735
47.778
188.553
5
14
Cody Ware
51
Ford
34
189.974
47.375
1.037
18
19
48.030
0
0
Bubba Wallace
23
Toyota
35
187.840
47.913
1.575
9
9
51.883
0
0
Conor Daly
50
Chevrolet
36
186.320
48.304
1.966
13
28
49.576
0
0
Austin Cindric
2
Ford
37
182.567
49.297
2.959
7
17
0
0