{"id":24644,"date":"2019-02-18T11:03:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=24644"},"modified":"2019-02-18T11:03:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:03:08","slug":"denny-hamlin-wins-daytona-500-for-2nd-time%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2019\/02\/denny-hamlin-wins-daytona-500-for-2nd-time%ef%bb%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin Wins DAYTONA 500 for 2nd Time\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       Race Extended to \u2018NASCAR Overtime\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       Emotional Triumph for Joe Gibbs Racing, on Day of Tribute to Late J.D. Gibbs<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7       Gibbs Cars Sweep Top 3 Spots<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DAYTONA BEACH (Feb. 17, 2019)<\/strong> \u2013<\/strong> Denny Hamlin won the 61st annual DAYTONA 500 Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, his second triumph in \u201cThe Great American Race.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In the process, he delivered a special ending to a special day for Joe Gibbs Racing. The organization honored Joe Gibbs\u2019 late son J.D. Gibbs on Lap 11, as crew members stood on pit wall as a tribute. J.D. Gibbs, who passed away last month due to a neurological disease, wore No. 11 as a high school football player and later, as a race car driver himself. Hamlin\u2019s car number: 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis one\u2019s for J.D.,\u201d said Hamlin \u2013 also the DAYTONA 500 champion in 2016 \u2013 who was brought into the Gibbs organization by J.D. Gibbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat happened here tonight is really unreal \u2026 I\u2019m just thrilled and I think J.D. had the best view of everything,\u201d Joe Gibbs added. \u201cIt\u2019s emotional for all of us. It\u2019s the most emotional win I\u2019ve ever had in my life, in anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamlin led a top-three sweep for Gibbs\u2019 Toyotas. Hamlin, driving the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, edged Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M\u2019s Chocolate Bar Toyota) by 0.138 seconds. Erik Jones (No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota) finished third, 0.294 back. Joey Logano (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford), the 2015 DAYTONA 500 champion and the reigning Monster Energy Series champion, finished fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This victory required \u201cNASCAR Overtime\u201d due to late-race incidents and two red flag periods that extended the race to 207 laps \u2013 seven laps past the scheduled distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Turn 3, 21-car incident on Lap 191 necessitated a red flag while also setting the stage for a late-race shootout among some of NASCAR\u2019s biggest stars. After the stoppage, the race was restarted on Lap 195 with Busch leading; Busch had passed Hamlin on the backstretch for the lead prior to the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that restart, the Toyotas of Busch and Hamlin were being pursued by Fords driven by Clint Bowyer, Michael McDowell and Kevin Harvick. The field made it to Turn 3 before another multi-car accident again brought out the caution flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more restart, this time on Lap 199, was also followed by an accident in Turn 3 that involved nine cars. This time, it was Hamlin nosing past Busch prior to the caution \u2013 and a second red flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That set the stage for the overtime. When track clean-up was complete, the final restart came on Lap 206 and Hamlin was able to cagily out-run Busch to the checkered flag over the last two laps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Kyle] got a great run on us on the backstretch, and we had to block it,\u201d Hamlin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t meant to be, obviously,\u201d Busch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DAYTONA 500 was divided into three \u201cstages\u201d of 60, 60 and 80 laps. Stage winners collect additional, valuable points that go toward the season-long standings for the Monster Energy Series championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Busch \u2013 the 2015 series titlist still seeking a victory in the DAYTONA 500 \u2013 took the first stage, leading Laps 35-60. His brother Kurt Busch, the 2017 DAYTONA 500 champion and 2004 series champion, saw his hopes vanish on Lap 50 when he got tangled up in a six-car, Turn 2 incident that ultimately led to a 25th-place finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stage 2 winner was determined by a spirited last-lap battle involving several cars. Ryan Blaney grabbed the win in the No. 12 Menards\/Peak Ford, barely edging polesitter William Byron to end Lap 120. The stage showcased a charge to contention by Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Discount Tire Ford), who started 35th in the 40-car field. Keselowski, another past (2012) series champion yet to win the DAYTONA 500, ran as high as second during Stage 2 before finishing fourth. He ended 12th in the final race results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motorsports action resumes at Daytona International Speedway on March 9 with DAYTONA Supercross. That event opens the 78th annual Bike Week At DAYTONA which also includes the DAYTONA TT on March 14 and the 78th annual DAYTONA 200 on March 16. The Monster Energy Series returns on July 6, with the Coke Zero Sugar 400.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b7       Race Extended to \u2018NASCAR Overtime\u2019 \u00b7       Emotional Triumph for Joe Gibbs Racing, on Day of Tribute to Late J.D. Gibbs \u00b7       Gibbs Cars Sweep Top 3 Spots DAYTONA BEACH (Feb. 17, 2019) \u2013 Denny Hamlin won the 61st annual DAYTONA 500 Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, his second triumph in \u201cThe Great American Race.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-touring-series-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24646,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24644\/revisions\/24646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}