DAYTONA BEACH | For a third consecutive year, an unexpected winner won the prestigious Daytona 500 on Sunday, the inaugural event of the 2023 NASCAR Cup season.
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Ricky Stenhouse was able to resist the threat of Joey Logano and in particular Kyle Larson during the second extension to sign a very first victory in this annual Classic that all drivers dream of winning.
“I hope you had as much fun as I did. What an incredible race”, he exclaimed as he got out of the car.
This is only his third win in 365 starts in the premier category of American stock cars. His first since 2017.
A small stable
Considered among the bettors’ underdogs, Stenhouse followed in the footsteps of Michael McDowell (2021) and Austin Cendric (2022) who had also paraded surprisingly into the winner’s circle in the past two presentations.
His feat is all the more remarkable as he is part of a team [JTG Daugherty] which has only one driver in its ranks, so leading teams, benefiting from practically unlimited means, have not been able to get ahead of it in lowering the curtain.
This is particularly the case for Logano (Penske) and Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs) who reached the finish in second and third place respectively.
Stenhouse, 35, was quick to thank his team manager who he started working with again this year. It was with Mike Kelly that he won his two consecutive titles (2011 and 2012) in the Nationwide series (ex-Xfinity).
“I owe him a debt of gratitude,” Stenhouse acknowledged.
The longest in history
This 65th edition of the Daytona 500 will have been the longest in history. The outcome was only known after a second extension.
Before finally seeing the checkered flag, the leaders had to complete 212 laps, thus beating the record (209) which had been registered in 2020. Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman, who had started from first place on the grid of start, completed the top 5.
Bowman, a member of the Hendrick team, was trying to become the first driver in 23 years to claim victory after taking the lead in qualifying.
A second extension
As is usual in Daytona, the last part of the race was the scene of a pile-up [impliquant 13 voitures]which would upset the order at the conclusion.
Kyle Busch was then two laps away from winning a first Daytona 500. After the relaunch of a first overtime, caused by Daniel Suarez going off the track, he was in the lead ahead of his teammate Austin Dillon.
It was in the second overtime that he was dropped by the peloton during a particularly lively last lap. The two-time NASCAR Cup champion was making his first outing at the wheel of a racing car from the Richard Childress team after a long association with Joe Gibbs.