By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Love’s Travel Stops NASCAR Cup Series driver Michael McDowell was the unlikely winner of the 2021 Daytona 500 early Monday morning at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. McDowell was credited as the winner following a big wreck before the finish line.
The crash happened between turns 3 and 4 at the track. Leader Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski got shuffled out due to the crash.
Once the path cleared, McDowell was awarded the win. He was the leader when the caution flag went out.
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“How crazy is that? Yeah, you guys all know, it’s been a tough road for me,” McDowell said. “I’ve had to spend a lot of years grinding it out, but I finally have felt like these last four years have been — just been more competitive and greater opportunities with Front Row and Bob Jenkins. Daytona has been so good to us that we’ve been in the top 10, we’ve been in the top 5, we’ve been close. In the last lap, there have been times where I’ve made the wrong choice, wrong lane, and pushed the wrong guy, and it’s just so hard to get in position and to do it, and to get my first Cup win at Daytona is just unbelievable.
“I’m just so thankful, thankful for everybody that just has allowed me to do it. It’s not been an easy road and there were lots of years where I was wondering what the heck am I doing and why am I doing it. I always knew that if you just kept grinding one day everything would line up and it would go right. But as you get further into it, you just don’t know. So I’m just thankful, very thankful to everybody that made it possible.”
McDowell is the eighth driver to secure their first career win in the Daytona 500. He secured his first win in his 358th start.
The race restarted at approximately 9 pm after nearly a six-hour rain delay. Right before the rain delay, there was a 16-car accident that happened on lap 15.
This is Front Row Motorsports’ third win. David Ragan won at Talladega in 2013 following a long rain delay.
Chris Buescher won at Pocono in 2016 when the race was shortened due to fog. Then, McDowell won following a long rain delay early Monday morning.
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Defending NASCAR Cup Series Champion Chase Elliott finished second in his NAPA Auto Parts entry. 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon was third in his Bass Pro Shops entry.
“We were trying to work together as the other manufacturers work, as long as we could,” Elliott said about working together with Dillon at the end. “The top was just so fast. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t an option. Like Thursday night I thought there was an option for the bottom and a few good cars could make ground, and you had a choice. But today, the top was just ridiculous, and it made it to where nobody wanted to pull out of line until the very last lap, so that’s kind of what you got there to work with. But yeah.”
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