2019 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin races to emotional victory

2019 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin won the first race of the 2019 NASCAR season by survival after more than 25 cars were in three late wrecks.

While Denny Hamlin is the Daytona 500 winner, he’s probably almost as happy just to have survived the carnage-laden race that opened the 2019 NASCAR season.

Sunday’s race at Daytona International Speedway was decided in NASCAR overtime after three multi-car accidents happened within seven laps. Hamlin earned his second Daytona 500 title on a day when Joe Gibbs Racing paid tribute to team co-founder J.D. Gibbs, who passed away before the season started.

J.D. Gibbs had recruited Denny Hamlin to the organization, making the win even more powerful for the No. 11 driver. “We’re desperately going to miss him for the rest of our lives,” Hamlin said after nabbing the victory.

His second win kept teammate Kyle Busch from getting his first Daytona trophy. Busch remains winless at Daytona in 14 attempts; he finished second ahead of JGR teammate Erik Jones and the current NASCAR champion, Joey Logano.

Just 16 of the 40 cars were still on track when overtime got underway. Only three of them had not been involved in some kind of accident.

With nine laps to go, “The Big One” arrived following contact between Matt DiBenedetto and Paul Menard. More than a dozen cars, including 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon, were involved in the massive wreck. No one was hurt, but the red flag came out for the second massive Daytona crash in a week.

Shortly after the race went green again, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. caused another seven-car accident as he tried to push his No. 17 into a middle lane that did not exist. That incident was followed by Clint Bowyer getting turned into pole sitter William Byron, setting up overtime and an end that NASCAR fans will be buzzing about all week.

Elsewhere, Jimmie Johnson’s first race with new crew chief Kevin Meendering was turned upside down when the No. 48 was collected from behind in a pit lane wreck. Johnson, who had been one of the frontrunners with 38 laps to go, drove the rest of the race with a car so damaged that its fuel dry brake was hanging loose.

Johnson was also penalized because his fueler had reached for a piece of tape on pit road, and then involved in the 18-car accident on Lap 191. Despite all that, thanks to the attrition and his usual consistent driving, Johnson finished

Complete Daytona 500 results are available here.

For complete coverage of the 2019 NASCAR season, follow the NASCAR category at FanSided.