DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 19, 2023) – The 65th running of the Daytona 500 took place under blue skies for the first time in several years and saw long time underdog, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., capture the checkered flag in front of a sold-out crowd.
Entering the day, there were no clear favorites as opposed to years past due to the balanced field of 40 cars.
In 2022, NASCAR introduced the “next gen” car for the Cup Series and since its debut there have been more than 20 different winners in the primary series.
This year’s Daytona 500 would be no exception.
Kicking-off the pre-race ceremonies; country music singer Dierks Bentley performed before a sold-out Daytona infield while fans made their way to the grandstands.
The Air Force Thunderbirds provided the flyover following country R&B singer Breland’s rendition of the national anthem. The Thunderbirds would put on an extra show for fans to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of NASCAR.
As the stands filled up, NASCAR welcomed several Hall of Fame drivers, as well as current driver champions to give the command. Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson, Donnie Allison, Dale Jarett, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and reigning two-time champion Joey Logano would give the field the “most famous line in all of motorsports” to start their engines to get the prestigious event underway.
In what was a very tame race quickly turned into the longest Daytona 500 in history. Multiple green-white-checkers were attempted, but the field must make one full lap for the race to become official, according to NASCAR’s overtime rules.
On the final restart of the race, both Richard Childress Racing made the decision to start side-by-side, instead of lining up together as drafting partners. Driver of the No. 8, Kyle Busch and teammate, driver of the No. 3, Austin Dillon were hoping to keep the field behind them for the duration of the final laps.
It was a bad restart on the bottom for Austin Dillon that prevented the plan from working in the team’s favor and saw reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano push the No. 47 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to the lead after Busch dropped down to catch his teammate’s draft.
As the lead pack to the white flag, there were several drivers in contention to win the race, but a multi-car crash in turn two would see the race finish under yellow after driver of the No. 10, Aric Almirola gave motorsport great Travis Pastrana, No. 67 a bump in a part of the track that is unforgiving. This was Pastrana’s first attempt at the Daytona 500, and his second race of the weekend.
As the yellow flag waved, NASCAR had to review where the leaders were at the time of the caution to declare a winner. After a few moments it was confirmed that the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing car of Stenhouse Jr. would be crowned the winner.
Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman would round out the top-five.
Sunday was Stenhouse’s first win since 2017, and the first win for the team since 2014.
The team, owned by former NBA player Brad Daugherty, who is now the first black owner to win the Daytona 500, is also joined in ownership by Tad and Jodi Geschickter. Jodi is the first female owner to win the Daytona 500.
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