Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned the checkered flag under caution in the second NASCAR overtime Sunday, winning the 65th running of the Cup Series' Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
After Chevrolet drivers Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and William Byron passed leader Brad Keselowski on the backstretch with four laps left, caution flew to force the first overtime.
But as a group led by Stenhouse zipped by on the top side after the restart, Dillon was turned to create a mess from seventh place on back down the backstretch. That 13-car carnage necessitated a second overtime run.
On the last restart, Stenhouse's No. 47 Chevrolet pulled out front off Turn 4 and was declared the winner under caution after Kyle Larson, from the middle groove, wrecked following contact with Travis Pastrana.
Stenhouse, 35, edged the No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano for his first Daytona 500 win and his first victory since 2017. The triumph snapped a 199-race winless streak for the Olive Branch, Miss., native. At 212 laps, it was the longest-ever Daytona 500.
Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
To start NASCAR's 75th season of stock car racing, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Bowman and Larson brought the 40-car field to the green flag for 200 scheduled laps around the high-banked, 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
Toyota driver Bell positioned his No. 20 Camry at the top spot on Lap 24, but the Fords forced the field's hand early by pitting on Lap 37. Chevrolet drivers opted to pit on the next circuit as the groups split up.
Keselowski went from fourth place to pass leader Martin Truex Jr. and held off fellow Ford driver Ryan Preece by a car length to claim the Stage 1 win.
Keselowski topped the field at the halfway mark, but the event's first major incident occurred when the fifth-place No. 45 Toyota of Tyler Reddick was tapped by Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Ford on Lap 118.
Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott also received damage in the accident at the east end of the World Center of Racing.
"That was the first time we'd been put in that situation," said Reddick, making his first start for 23XI Racing, the team owned by Michael Jordan and minority partner Denny Hamlin. "We got loose, and, unfortunately, we took out a lot of good cars."
At the end of Stage 2, Florida native Ross Chastain nipped Bowman by inches. On Lap 182, the race's fifth caution flew after Preece lost control of his No. 41 Ford in Turn 1 to trigger a seven-car incident.
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