Austin Cindric Wins The Daytona 500 In An Overtime Finish
Photo: Jared C. Tilton (Getty Images)
The 64th Daytona 500 marked the competitive points-paying debut of the Next Gen cars in the NASCAR Cup Series. The new cars put on a spectacular show on the iconic superspeedway. It still required a good package, collaborative effort, driver skill and some luck to stay out front.
The reigning Cup Series Champion Kyle Larson secured pole position in qualifying but lost his spot out front before ever leading a lap. A quartet of Ford held station leading the pack by the RFK Mustangs of driver-team owner Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher. Both drivers won each of the two Bluegreen Vacations Duels qualifying races during the week. They were joined by Penske’s Austin Cindric and Front Row’s Michael McDowell, the defending Daytona 500 Champion.
The Fords were challenged when four of the six Toyotas grouped up on the inside line. The inside line was led by JGR’s Kyle Busch, Christoper Bell and Martin Truex Jr. along with 23XI’s Kurt Busch. The first stage ended with the race’s first major crash. On Lap 63, Brad Keselowski pushed Harrison Burton in the outside line on the exit of Turn 2. Burton lost control of the #21 Wood Brothers Ford and plowed in the inside line. Burton’s car was turned around and it went airborne. William Byron, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were all collected in the incident.
As it has become nearly inevitable at this point, the race went into overtime after a crash in the trioval with 5 laps to go, which took out Kyle Larson. The field made to the white flag on the first overtime attempt with Austin Cindric, his teammate Ryan Blaney and 23XI’s Bubba Wallace leading on the inside line. Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch were on the outside line.
On the run to the line, Blaney attempted a pass on the outside for the win and Cindric defended the position accordingly. Both made contact as they moved toward the wall. Wallace dove down the inside, but couldn’t beat Cindric across the finish line. Austin Cindric won the Daytona 500 as the field wrecked behind him.
