Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the 65th running of the Daytona 500 in double overtime on Sunday night, and also marked the longest running Daytona 500 in history. The two overtimes pushed the race to a record 212 laps — a dozen laps beyond the scheduled distance, and 530 miles.
Driving a Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing (a single-car team partly owned by former NBA player Brad Daugherty), Stenhouse’s win was the third of his career. His only other victories came in 2017 at Talladega, and the summer race at Daytona. JTG is the first single-car team to win the Daytona 500 since The Wood Brothers Racing did it with Trevor Bayne in 2011.
The 35-year-old Stenhouse Jr., who hails from Olive Branch, Mississippi, won NASCAR’s biggest race of the season in his first race reunited with crew chief Mike Kelly. Said Stenhouse: “I think this whole offseason Mike just preached how much we all believed in each other. They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done. 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.”
Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano finished second in a Ford for Team Penske, which won the race last year with Austin Cindric. Christopher Bell was third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and followed by Chris Buescher in a Ford for RFK Racing and Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports in a Chevrolet.
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