Column By: JESSY MILLER / RPW – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – February 17th, 2019 was the 61st annual Daytona 500. With two young guns on the front row (William Byron on the pole and Alex Bowman in 2nd) it was sure to be an exciting race. The 500 completely sold out grandstand tickets
The green flag dropped and the race was off to a good start, Byron held the lead for a while and shared it with others like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Dibenedetto.The first wreck was for Cory LaJoie and his face- literally.
A tough situation for @CoreyLaJoie to face.#Daytona500 pic.twitter.com/FIs76SmD8R
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) February 17, 2019
The next caution was right before the end of stage one , for Bubba Wallace, Jamie McMurray, Daniel Hemric, Kurt Busch and Stenhouse.
Wrong place, wrong time for @BubbaWallace. 😣 #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/aCJ2fboK5w
— ISM Raceway (@ISMRaceway) February 17, 2019
Kyle Busch won stage one. The drivers went for a while before the next caution came this time for Casey Mears and Parker Kligerman. Ryan Blaney took stage two not long after and it was time for the final, and longest, leg of the race.
The following caution was… a little bit different. Several cars went spinning on pit road.
You never know where chaos will strike at @DISupdates!#DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/fyQI74Fw4h
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2019
The next caution as uneventful as it was just for debris, alibi a large piece of sheet metal. Then Kyle Larson was into the wall pulling another yellow flag. The next yellow was for Keselowski when he got a flat.
When the big one finally made it’s appearance with ten to go, eighteen cars were involved, many heading for the garage.
“All hell broke loose.”
The #Daytona500 always gets crazy in the final laps. pic.twitter.com/XEsy8rwXhI
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) February 17, 2019
The next caution was for Stenhouse, Larson and Kevin Harvick.
.@StenhouseJr runs out of room between @KyleLarsonRacin and @KevinHarvick!#DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/4vOzh6LySP
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 17, 2019
The final caution was for this kerfuffle for Clint Bowyer and Michael McDowell pulling out another red flag.
The contact between @ClintBowyer and @Mc_Driver sets off this chain reaction.#DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/JoDtYA4GFP
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 18, 2019
Many jokes were being made during the cautions and nascarcasm was of course, involved.
They aren’t getting pushed to the garage. This is how we have to race them now. #Daytona500 #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/lLopdjOqYX
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) February 18, 2019
During the red flag the fans began to do the wave in the grandstands.
The fans are obviously ready for the green flag to ‘wave.’ 😅 #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/Ds1rG65BBf
— ISM Raceway (@ISMRaceway) February 18, 2019
The race went green for a final time and it was Denny Hamlin who sailed to Victory Lane, an emotional evening to the Joe Gibbs Racing fold. Last month Joe Gibbs’ oldest son JD Gibbs passed away, and Hamlin dedicated the win to him saying it was JD who recruited him.
✌🏼 time #Daytona500 Champ. Did it for JD.
#DoItForJD #FedEx11 pic.twitter.com/RmUeyqH8lw— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) February 18, 2019
