Austin Dillon Shoves His Way To Daytona 500 Victory

It took Dale Earnhardt, Sr. 20 years to win the Daytona 500.

Austin Dillon did it in five.

Nearly 20 years to the day that Earnhardt, Sr. scored his historic first win in the Daytona 500, Dillon pushed his way past Aric Almirola with half a lap to go, and drove to the victory in Sunday’s 60th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, bringing the iconic No. 3 back to Victory Lane at Daytona.

Darrell Wallace, Jr. finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.

Dillon – the grandson of Earnhardt, Sr.’s long-time car owner Richard Childress – collected his second-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory is his 158th-career start.

“I did what I had to do,” Dillon said. “He (Almirola) was trying to block me and I just turned him. We had a run and I stayed in the gas. It’s so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to victory lane. This one is for Dale Earnhardt and all those Earnhardt fans. We’re going to keep kicking butt for the rest of the year.”

A Daytona 500 victory had eluded Dale Earnhardt, Sr. for year – coming so close year after year only to lose out in the closing laps. When he finally took the checkered flag on his 20th try in 1998, Austin and his brother Ty Dillon were there in Victory Lane, posing with Earnhardt and the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

Dillon was an unlikely pick to win on Sunday, after flying under the radar for much of the race – finishing 19th in the opening 60-lap stage and ninth in the second stage and setting up in the top 10 for the second-to-last restart with seven laps to go.

On the final restart in the overtime session, Dillon had moved up to fourth lined up behind on the outside behind Almirola.

Once the green flag waved, Hamlin and Almirola were side by side until Almirola broke out on his own and took the white flag as the leader.

As the field came around to the backstretch, Dillon made a strong push on the outside forcing Almirola to come up to block. Dillon locked onto Almirola’s bumper and turned him going into turn three, then stayed in the gas to cross the line more than ten car-lengths over Hamlin and Wallace.

Almirola was very diplomatic is his post-race comments, saying he and Dillon were just racing for the win.

“It was the last lap and we’re all trying to win the Daytona 500,” said Almirola. “It’s the biggest race of the year and it’s a career-changing race, so we were just racing really aggressively. I put every move I knew to try and stay in the lead and, unfortunately, I just wasn’t able to hold on. He got to my back bumper and was pushing and just hooked me.

“(Dillon) was trying to win the Daytona 500 just like I was. I saw him come with the momentum and I pulled up to block and did exactly what I needed to do to try to win the Daytona 500. I wasn’t gonna just let him have it. I’m just devastated, but this is just one race. It might be the biggest race and this one is gonna hurt for a while, but I think next week we’ll have another shot.”

Wallace’s runner-up showing was the best finish by an African-American driver since Wendell Scott went to victory lane in 1963 and the highest finish in the history of the Daytona 500.

Wallace and Hamlin actually crashed just past the start/finish line after Hamlin cut a right-front tire after contact with Wallace coming to the checkered flag. After the race, he shared an emotional hug with his mom and his sister before speaking with the media.

“I just try so hard to be successful at everything I do, and my family pushes me each and every day, and they might not know it – but I just want to make them proud,” said an emotional Wallace. “Second is horrible, but it’s a good day.

“Just an incredible experience for me to be able to be here for my first Daytona 500. He (Denny Hamlin) says I cut his tire down. We had some momentum and we beat him, so it’s all good.”

Sunday’s season-opening event kicked off with youngster Alex Bowman and 2016 Daytona 500 winner Hamlin leading the field to the green flag.

The race ran nearly problem until the end of the first segment, when Daniel Suarez got out of shape while trying to block Ryan Blaney, triggering a nine-car crash that took out Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, and Ty Dillon.

Kurt Busch won the opening stage, followed by Bowman, Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Martin Truex, Jr.

The second 60-lap segment brought more carnage when Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski got together finishing for second behind race leader Blaney, resulting in another melee that claimed both Elliott and Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick in her final NASCAR race.

Ryan Blaney would go on to win stage two, and led the field to the green flag for the final 80-lap segment.

Blaney would lead 67 of the next 70 laps as the field stayed single file with no one willing to step out of line with nothing to gain.

Any hopes the race would go green to the finish we dashed when William Byron blew a tire and spun with nine laps to go to set up a restart.

Trying to work his way past Kurt Busch, Blaney got in the back of Busch’s Ford and turned him in front of the entire field, touching off the biggest wreck of the day – collecting 12 cars including Brendan Gaughan and Matt DiBenedetto, who were on their way to career-best finishes.

Kyle Busch managed to limp his battered Toyota Camry to a 25th-place finish, seven laps down, after suffering two cut tires, a spin and a penalty on pit road.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona 500 – February 18, 2018

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2. (7) Darrell Wallace, Jr. #, Chevrolet, 207.
3. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 207.
4. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 207.
5. (21) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 207.
6. (16) Paul Menard, Ford, 207.
7. (3) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 207.
8. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 207.
9. (22) Michael McDowell, Ford, 207.
10. (20) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 207.
11. (37) Aric Almirola, Ford, 206.
12. (29) Justin Marks(i), Chevrolet, 206.
13. (18) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 206.
14. (39) * David Gilliland(i), Ford, 206.
15. (10) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 206.
16. (19) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 205.
17. (1) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 205.
18. (24) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 205.
19. (38) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 204.
20. (34) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 204.
21. (27) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 204.
22. (40) * Mark Thompson, Ford, 203.
23. (33) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 203.
24. (30) * D.J. Kennington, Toyota, 201.
25. (12) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200.
26. (11) Kurt Busch, Ford, Accident, 198.
27. (36) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, Accident, 198.
28. (25) * Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, Accident, 198.
29. (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, Accident, 197.
30. (15) David Ragan, Ford, Accident, 107.
31. (6) Kevin Harvick, Ford, Accident, 105.
32. (31) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 102.
33. (4) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.
34. (26) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.
35. (28) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.
36. (8) Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 59.
37. (17) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Accident, 59.
38. (35) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Accident, 59.
39. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 59.
40. (32) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Engine, 8.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 150.545 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 26 Mins, 15 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.260 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 37 laps.

Lead Changes: 24 among 14 drivers.

Lap Leaders: A. Bowman 0; D. Hamlin 1-10; J. Marks(i) 11; Kurt Busch 12-14; A. Bowman 15-22; E. Jones 23-33; R. Stenhouse Jr. 34-44; C. Elliott 45-48; J. Logano 49-51; Kurt Busch 52-62; A. Bowman 63-67; R. Blaney 68-93; P. Menard 94; M. Truex Jr. 95-98; R. Blaney 99-122; A. Allmendinger 123; R. Blaney 124-170; D. Hamlin 171-173; R. Blaney 174-193; D. Hamlin 194; Kurt Busch 195-196; R. Blaney 197; D. Hamlin 198-205; A. Almirola 206; A. Dillon 207;.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): R. Blaney 5 times for 118 laps; D. Hamlin 4 times for 22 laps; Kurt Busch 3 times for 16 laps; A. Bowman 2 times for 13 laps; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 11 laps; E. Jones 1 time for 11 laps; C. Elliott 1 time for 4 laps; M. Truex Jr. 1 time for 4 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 3 laps; A. Dillon 1 time for 1 lap; A. Almirola 1 time for 1 lap; P. Menard 1 time for 1 lap; A. Allmendinger 1 time for 1 lap; J. Marks(i) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 41,88,12,17,78,34,4,9,21,6

Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,21,22,10,34,78,43,6,3,11

Top 10 in Points: 1. Ryan Blaney- 48; 2. Austin Dillon – 42 (1 Win); 3. Paul Menard – 42; 4. Joey Logano – 41; 5. Darrell Wallace, Jr. – 39; 6. Michael McDowell – 39; 7. Denny Hamlin – 35; 8. Aric Almirola – 33; 9. Chris Buescher – 32; 10. Martin Truex, Jr.- 30.