DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It wasn’t the narrowest margin of victory in Daytona 500 history, but it was close. And Austin Cindric's full-time NASCAR Cup Series debut couldn't have gone any better.
The new Team Penske Ford driver held off a parade of furiously charging drivers behind him on the final lap of the 2022 season opener Sunday at Daytona International Speedway and narrowly edged Bubba Wallace for the checkered flag.
Inches, fractions of a car length, hundredths of a second — 0.036 to be exact.
That was the difference between Cindric in the No. 2 car and Wallace in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota in what became a true photo finish in the 64th Daytona 500.
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“Oh, my god,” Cindric said afterward, seemingly in disbelief. “Do you know what makes it all better? A packed house. A packed house at the Daytona 500. … I'm surrounded by great people — that's all there is to it. I know there's going to be highs and lows, being a rookie in a field of drivers this strong. I'm just grateful for the opportunity, excited to climb the mountain we've got ahead of us on the (No.) 2 team.”
The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, Cindric became the second youngest Daytona 500 champ following Trevor Bayne, who won the 2011 race at the age of 20 years and one day.
“He didn’t make a mistake today,” said team owner Roger Penske, who turned 85 on Sunday, praising the 23-year-old rookie.
Chase Briscoe finished third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Aric Almirola, in his final NASCAR season, fifth.
Cindric replaced Brad Keselowski, who became a driver-owner for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, in the No. 2 Ford this year and took his first career checkered flag in the biggest race of the season. The victory also locks Cindric into the 10-race playoffs in the fall.
Cindric got a big push from his Team Penske teammate Blaney in the No. 12 Ford in the two-lap overtime shootout to hold off Wallace, who collected his second runner-up finish at the Daytona 500 after finishing second in 2018. Wallace had captured his first career Cup Series win at last year's Talladega playoff race after finishing second at the Daytona 400-lap summer race, which served as the 2021 regular-season finale.
Kyle Busch overcame early damage to finish sixth, last year's winner Michael McDowell finished seventh, while David Ragan, Keselowski and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had put himself in great position to win his first Daytona 500, but with four laps remaining his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Chevrolet got loose and then got spun after a push from Keselowski in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford.
Stenhouse then caromed into Keselowski's RFK teammate Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford, bringing out the caution and sending the race to overtime.
A number of contenders were knocked out on lap 190 of a scheduled 200 when reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet built up a head of steam on the outside row and got into the back of Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford who had to check up to avoid Buescher.
Harvick spun down into Noah Gragson in the No. 62 Chevrolet to ignite the multi-car wreck. Erik Jones in the No. 43 Chevrolet, Todd Gilliland in the No. 38 Ford and 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, in the No. 9 Chevrolet, were also involved
With 50 laps to go in the 200-lap race, Tyler Reddick in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet got loose on the frontstretch. He got completely turned around before his back bumper smashed into the outside wall while his nose made contact with the oncoming Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The contact between Reddick and Truex set off a chain reaction with Kurt Busch in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota and Joey Logano in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford running right behind the No. 19.
Busch and Logano spun to the inside of the track and both slid through the tri-oval grass. Reddick’s Daytona 500 ended there, and Truex was able to remain on the lead lap, but Logano and Busch were able to continue from a few laps down.
Here's a recap of the opening two stages:
Stage 1
The first 63 laps were largely uneventful, save for a couple rogue tires abandoning their cars. But then Cup Series rookie Harrison Burton ended upside down for a brief moment on Lap 64 before his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford flipped back upright.
Thankfully, Burton was OK after that wild ride, and he was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
"I’ve hit a lot harder before, that’s for sure," Burton said. "It’s just unfortunate. I hate it for the Wood Brothers group. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang down here and ended up on our lid, so that’s never good."
Leading the outside lane on the backstretch of the 2.5-mile track, Burton got a hard of push from Keselowski in the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, turning the No. 21 inside toward traffic. Burton immediately hit William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before flipping onto its roof.
That push triggered an eight-car incident and knocked several drivers — including favorite Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain and Byron — out of the race early on.
"(Keselowski) was pushing (Burton), and you could see the 21 was kind of getting out of control there," Hamlin said afterward. "So you know the mindset was that you’ve got to back off, but I think the 6 was just insistent on pushing him at all costs and eventually turned the 21 around. Tough, you know, considering it was just for the stage."
Kyle Busch was involved in the wreck but was able to continue, and same for Alex Bowman, who fell several laps behind the leaders. Christopher Bell was also involved and after returning to the track to make minimum speed, he retreated to the garage for suspension repairs with the hope of coming back out.
The multi-car wreck forced the 65-lap Stage 1 to end under caution, with Truex winning it. He was followed by Keselowski, rookie Todd Gilliland, Stenhouse, Logano, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott and pole-sitter Kyle Larson to round out the top 10.
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Stage 2
After an eventful end to the first stage, the second one was far more chill, as Truex scooped up his second stage win of the day.
Keselowski led 19 of Stage 2's 65 laps and looked poised to grab the stage win with his former Team Penske teammate, Logano, right behind him. But Truex had other plans and jumped out from behind Logano to take the lead on the final lap before the stage break.
Truex was followed by Logano, Bubba Wallace, Keselowski, Stenhouse, rookie Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Larson and Gilliland to complete the top-10 finishers.
An eight-car wreck at the end of the first stage’s 65 laps knocked several contenders out. And although Bell was involved in the incident, his Joe Gibbs Racing team was able to make suspension repairs on his No. 20 Toyota. But by the time Bell returned to the race, he was 41 laps behind the leaders.
Contributing: Ellen J. Horrow in Arlington, Virginia
Daytona 500 results
Sunday from the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway (starting position in parentheses):
1. (5) Austin Cindric, Ford, 201 laps, 45 points.
2. (16) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 201, 43.
3. (9) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 201, 34.
4. (7) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 201, 33.
5. (38) Aric Almirola, Ford, 201, 32.
6. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 201, 31.
7. (6) Michael McDowell, Ford, 201, 30.
8. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 201, 29.
9. (3) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 201, 44.
10. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 201, 28.
11. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 201, 26.
12. (33) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 201, 0.
13. (14) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 201, 44.
14. (24) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, 201, 23.
15. (27) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 201, 0.
16. (4) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200, 25.
17. (32) Cody Ware, Ford, 200, 20.
18. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 199, 19.
19. (17) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 199, 22.
20. (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 199, 17.
21. (20) Joey Logano, Ford, 198, 31.
22. (40) Jacques Villeneuve, Ford, 198, 15.
23. (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 198, 14.
24. (2) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 197, 13.
25. (36) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 197, 17.
26. (35) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, 196, 0.
27. (37) BJ McLeod, Ford, 196, 10.
28. (18) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, accident, 194, 22.
29. (13) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, accident, 191, 11.
30. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, dvp, 191, 10.
31. (39) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet, accident, 190, 0.
32. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, accident, 190, 9.
33. (29) Todd Gilliland, Ford, accident, 190, 13.
34. (12) Christopher Bell, Toyota, accident, 152, 3.
35. (15) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, accident, 151, 2.
36. (28) Greg Biffle, Chevrolet, 136, 0.
37. (30) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, accident, 63, 1.
38. (23) William Byron, Chevrolet, accident, 62, 1.
39. (8) Harrison Burton, Ford, accident, 62, 1.
40. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, accident, 62, 1.
––– Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 142.302 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 31 minutes, 53 seconds.
Margin of Victory: .036 seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 35 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K.Larson 0; B.Keselowski 1-6; Ky.Busch 7; B.Keselowski 8-26; Ky.Busch 27-31; B.Keselowski 32; Ky.Busch 33-37; R.Stenhouse 38; H.Burton 39; J.Logano 40; Ky.Busch 41-57; W.Byron 58; H.Burton 59-60; M.Truex 61-67; A.Dillon 68; E.Jones 69-71; R.Blaney 72-107; M.Truex 108; B.Wallace 109; B.Keselowski 110-124; K.Larson 125; B.Keselowski 126-129; M.Truex 130-132; B.Wallace 133; B.Keselowski 134-155; B.Wallace 156; A.Cindric 157-162; B.Wallace 163-166; A.Cindric 167-168; B.Wallace 169-170; A.Cindric 171-175; B.Wallace 176-177; R.Stenhouse 178; B.Wallace 179; R.Stenhouse 180-193; A.Cindric 194-201
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): B.Keselowski, 6 times for 67 laps; R.Blaney, 1 time for 36 laps; Ky.Busch, 4 times for 28 laps; A.Cindric, 4 times for 21 laps; R.Stenhouse, 3 times for 16 laps; B.Wallace, 7 times for 12 laps; M.Truex, 3 times for 11 laps; E.Jones, 1 time for 3 laps; H.Burton, 2 times for 3 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 1 lap; A.Dillon, 1 time for 1 lap; K.Larson, 2 times for 1 lap; W.Byron, 1 time for 1 lap.
