By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Many thought that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would win the Daytona 500 for the third time today. However, Denny Hamlin won.
It’s the closest Daytona 500 win ever as Hamlin defeated Martin Truex Jr. Hamlin won the race by four inches.
“It’s the pinnacle of my career, for sure,” Hamlin said. “I haven’t got a championship yet. This is the biggest win for myself. It’s just the circumstances, J.D. Gibbs, who found me about 12, 13 years ago, his birthday today, has been so pivotal to myself and my team and supporting me for the past 11 years.
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“FedEx has been a huge supporter of me throughout my career. Unusually, the driver and the sponsor have such a great relationship as we have. They stuck by us. They’re so heavily invested in myself and this sport and this race team.”
He also helped Toyota get their first Daytona 500 win. It’s also Hamlin’s crew chief Mike Wheeler’s first Daytona 500 win, as well.
“Toyota, it’s huge for them getting their first Daytona 500 victory,” Hamlin said. “With everything that they’ve done for this racetrack, with the Toyota injector, it’s such a huge team victory. Joe Gibbs Racing, sat over here a week ago, you told me all these side-bar races are getting old, let’s go win the real one. So to win it for the boss after 23 years, there is no better feeling than what I have right now.”
Truex Jr. received his first top-5 finish at the Daytona 500. He was appreciative of the opportunity that he had following his close second-place finish.
Hamlin started the final lap in fourth place, then was able to overtake Matt Kenseth. He was able to be the final lap leader before things started to fall apart for him.
“I’m so happy to get this victory for Joe Gibbs Racing,” Hamlin said, who was the laps leader in the race.
Kevin Harvick was able to give Hamlin the push before he went side-by-side with Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch, who is the reigning Sprint Cup Series Champion, finished third. Harvick was fourth.
“Denny took my idea and he did it sooner than I did,” Busch said. “It was the day of Toyota Camry’s up front, but you can’t be greedy.”
Carl Edwards finished fifth. Edwards, who had a beat-up car, came back from one lap down to round out the top five.
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“I think just that fact, that we worked as hard as we could work,” Team owner Joe Gibbs said. “Over the years we had great drivers and crew chiefs, but it’s so hard to put it all together and win. I’m proud of Mike and Denny. Just a great effort. For them to be together this short period and to be able to accomplish what they have I think is an amazing story.
“You talk about FedEx, you talk about Toyota, when you get a chance to call them, Fred Smith, Mike Glenn, you realize our sport is so different. You can play basketball, football, and baseball without a sponsor. We can’t race without a sponsor. It’s a partnership. Certainly, you can’t race without a great manufacturer like Toyota. It’s a total team effort.”
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