(Daytona Beach) The illustrious Quebec racing driver Jacques Villeneuve took the 22and echelon at the Daytona 500 in NASCAR on Sunday, while Austin Cindric won over his rivals with his all-new car.
Posted at 8:33 p.m.
Former F1 champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500, Villeneuve started the race at 40and and last row. He finished three laps behind the leader.
The 50-year-old Villeneuve had never competed in the Daytona 500 to date.
Cindric masterfully steered the race at Daytona International Speedway and the Ford drivers, who synchronized their strategy throughout the week, executed the plan to perfection on Sunday night.
The Ford drivers pushed each other throughout the 500 miles and were all bundled up for the ultimate overtime restart.
Cindric led the group in the last round in the upper corridor, while maintaining a good lead. He then positioned himself in the lower lane in front of his Team Penske teammate, Ryan Blaney. The two worked together for the last two laps in the race.
Blaney tried to take the lead on the last lap while Bubba Wallace took the lower lane with the same goal. Cindric took the outside lane to block Blaney, but had to contain Wallace in the final sprint.
It was a first career cup victory for Cindric. The 23-year-old driver has been promoted from the Xfinity Series circuit to replace Brad Keselowski in the second Ford car.
Wallace finished in 2and position at the Daytona 500 for the second time in his career. It was followed by a trio of Ford cars, driven by Chase Briscoe, Blaney and Aric Almirola respectively.
Kyle Busch finished sixth, being the only Toyota driver, excluding Wallace, to break into the top-10.
Chase Elliott finished in 10and echelon and is the only Chevrolet driver in the top-10.