Stenhouse Jr Wins at Daytona

By Earl Heath

Contributing Sports Writer

It became a game of inches as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged out Joey Lagano to claim the 65th Daytona 500. In double overtime Stenhouse was ahead of Joey Logano at the moment of caution on the final lap to earn the biggest win of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

The 12-year NASCAR Veteran got his third win and first in 199 races.

Stenhouse battled back from a pit road speeding penalty, pushing Logano to the lead from the outside lane, making a daring move to the inside for the lead spot as contact between Austin Dillon and William Byron triggered a 13-car crash in Turn 3.

According to NASCAR rules who’s ever in the lead when the caution button is pushed is declared the winner.

“Its been really big for myself having not won since 2017and having struggles,” said Stenhouse. “Having someone like (crew chief) Mike Kelly is huge,” he added. “He I know you can still get this done, we’ve got to give you the right opportunities. We know if we give you cars that are capable of running up front you can do that we’ve proven that.”

Stenhouse was the only driver with out a team member.

There was a lot of strategy, a lot of switching and pushing. It was the longest Daytona 212 laps. There were 52 lead changes that involved 21 drivers. Brad Keselowski led the most laps with 42. Chris Buescher was second with 38. Logano was second was followed by Christopher Bell, Buescher and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five. Kevin Harvick finished 12th in his last Daytona 500. “Second is the worst man,” said Logano who won the race in 2015. “I was so close leading the white flag lap. You think you’re racing to the checkered flag and you put yourself in the best position to try to win at the start-finish line. There’s nothing like winning the Daytona 500 that’s why it stings so much finishing second.”