DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Every NASCAR driver dreams of winning the Daytona 500. And now Ricky Stenhouse Jr. can add his name to the list.
Stenhouse won the 2023 Daytona 500 by gaining the lead on the second-to-last restart of the race and holding on just enough as the caution waved for a huge wreck on the final lap. It's the 3rd win of Stenhouse's career and easily the most memorable one. It's just the second NASCAR Cup Series win for his team, JTG Daugherty Racing.
"This whole offseason [my team] just preached how much we believe in each other," said Stenhouse to media after the race. "This is unbelievable."
An overtime restart set a dramatic stage for the race's final two laps. Stenhouse led the field to the second attempt at overtime with Kyle Larson on the inside and Joey Logano just behind looking to gain the lead. But Stenhouse was slightly ahead of Logano on the last lap as Larson was turned and slammed the wall, collecting a slew of drivers in the process.
Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 5.
Kyle Busch led to the green to begin the first overtime attempt but Stenhouse was pushed to the front shortly after. Moments later, Austin Dillon spun, causing a major pileup that set up another overtime restart.
The first half of the race was relatively calm. Alex Bowman led the field to the green and traded the lead with his teammate Kyle Larson through the first 10 laps as the field ran double-file.
In a poetic display of racing, the field stayed double-file through most of the first stage with no caution flags waving. Christopher Bell, Aric Almirola, and a few others spent time out front, but it was Brad Keselowski taking the stage 1 win after pit stops shuffled the field a bit.
Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, and Chris Buescher each held the lead at different points to open stage 2 as everyone continue to run mostly mistake-free on the high-speed track.
The first major incident came on lap 118 when Kevin Harvick gave a bump to Tyler Reddick that sent the latter driver spinning. Reddick's misfortune collected Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, and Daniel Suárez. Elliott, Jones, and Reddick were sidelined for the day after the crash.
Logano then led the field with less than 10 laps remaining in stage 2 and seemed poised to take the stage win but Ross Chastain and Bowman muscled their way to the front in the closing laps. Chastain ultimately beat Bowman for the stage win by just inches.
After a debris caution on lap 139, the race stayed green until a seven-car incident began when Michael McDowell made contact with Preece. The crash collected Harvick, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, and Jimmie Johnson.
That wreck set up a restart with 13 laps to go with Harrison Burton out front due to pit strategy. He was quickly shuffled back as Keselowski gained the lead and pulled out front as the pack began to run single-file.
With four laps remaining, Busch used a push from Austin Dillon to jump out of line and gain the lead. Busch, in his first race for Richard Childress Racing, is still looking for his first Daytona 500 win after 18 attempts.
Suárez blew a tire with three laps to go and caused an overtime finish.
Busch led at the line but was quickly passed by Logano and Stenhouse. Moments later, Dillon spun and collected around a dozen cars, including Burton, Chastain, Cindric, Johnson, William Byron, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Zane Smith, and Noah Gragson, among others.
Stenhouse then led to the second attempt at overtime and was on the verge of being passed by Larson and Logano but the top two rows got too far ahead of the rest of the pack and nobody was able to overtake Stenhouse.
On the final lap, Larson was spun around and crashed hard into the wall. The incident collected Keselowski, Busch, Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Blaney, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, and Travis Pastrana.
The caution flag waved as Stenhouse was in the lead, granting him the win and memorializing him as a Daytona 500 champion.
