This was a long and grueling day at the Daytona 500. It was a tough start for many drivers when the big one struck early. It was a long day for everyone when a nearly six-hour-long rain delay.
Daytona is easily one of the most unpredictable races on the schedule and the 2021 Daytona 500 was no different.
The Big One Strikes Early
As the race was just beginning drivers were extremely aggressive. This proved costly as a 16 car crash would ensue, Just 14 laps into the race the massive wreck would occur. This wreck would involve many big names such as William Byron, Martin Truex Jr, Alex Bowman and many more. Many top contenders were knocked out of the race very early and it was a tough start for many.
The Daytona 500 Nearly Washed Out Due To Rain
After the big one happened NASCAR would go into a lighting delay. Shortly after a monsoon happened which completely soaked the race track. Afterwards it was a steady rain throughout the day.
After many attempts at drying the racetrack NASCAR announced that the race would resume around 9pm eastern time. When the red flag was lifted the rain delay lasted 5 hours and 40 minutes.
Stage 1 Recap
Following the rain delay the teams went to work on repairing their cars in an attempt to try and continue to compete for a win. Later on, as Byron continued to run with sheet metal flying off the back of his car this hit Quin Houff’s car and caused him to wreck and take out Chase Briscoe as well. Afterwards Denny Hamlin won stage number one in the Daytona 500.
Stage 2 Recap
Not to long after trouble would strike Christopher Bell when a tire went down. Ricky Stenhouse Jr was hit and he spun taking a few others with him in this incident. At the end of the stage teams would be battling it out for the win. At the end Denny Hamlin barely beat Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace to win stage number two.
A Wild Ending
The remaining cars left in the race played it rather conservative. As teams were just itching to make moves the patience would lead to an amazing final lap at the Daytona 500. Joey Logano led the single-file line for many laps until turn three. By this point everyone was going for the win.
\Michael McDowell had a huge push on Brad Keselowski and Brad hit Joey Logano. This caused a huge fiery crash to end under caution with Michael Mcdowell stunning the world by winning the Daytona 500. This needed to be reviewed by NASCAR to confirm as Chase Elliott did pass Michael McDowell but not in time as the caution lights were already displayed.
Thankfully, everyone was ok after this scary crash to end the Daytona 500.
Outlook
It was an upset story nobody expected. 14 years in NASCAR and this was his first career win. Front Row Motorsports has always been a contender at the superspeedways and this race was no different.
The crash at the end took out a ton of drivers such as Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace and many more. It was a scary crash but thankfully everyone was ok and walked away from that horrific crash.
What’s Next?
The next NASCAR Cup Series race will also be at Daytona. Only this time it will be on the Daytona road course. It is the second of a 3 week run in Florida and the second straight week NASCAR will be at Daytona. This race will not have practice or qualifying. The race can be seen next Sunday on Fox and can be heard on the Motor Racing Network.
