Johnson leads Hendrick one-two in Daytona 500

Having dominated much of NASCAR’s ‘Car of Tomorrow’ era, Jimmie Johnson opened his account with the new ‘Generation 6’ cars in spectacular fashion on Sunday, winning the 2013 Daytona 500.

Johnson led the field away from the last restart with six laps to go before holding off a late charge from team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had restarted back in eighth.

Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman completed the top five, with the frantic late two-wide action having come in stark contrast to much of the race’s calm, single-file running.

The victory is Johnson’s second success in the 500 and comes seven years after his first.

Pole-sitter Danica Patrick ran in the top five for much of the race but fell from third to eighth on the final lap.

Patrick made history regardless, recording the highest ever finish for a female driver having earlier become the first female to lead a green flag lap in the Great American Race and just the 13th to have led both the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500.

Australian Marcos Ambrose took the last restart in 11th place but finished 18th after struggling to find a drafting partner.

The race featured two major wrecks, the first of which wiped out the Chevrolets of Kasey Kahne, Keven Harvick, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch early in the going. The incident had been triggered when Kyle Busch tagged the back of Kahne’s car through the tri-oval.

A second ‘big one’ later accounted for Trevor Bayne, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., David Gilliland, David Ragan and Austin Dillon – marking the fifth crash of Speedweeks for Edwards.

Keselowski took minor damage in both of the big accidents but went on to contend for the win regardless.

Joe Gibbs Racing appeared to be in the box seat for victory as the race entered its final quarter, with Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin leading the pack in the team’s three Toyotas.

Unrelated mechanical failures on the Kenseth and Busch cars within two laps of each other then spelled disaster for the Japanese marque’s assault.

The Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota of Martin Truex Jr also ran at the front until striking mechanical troubles late in the going.

The 2013 Sprint Cup Series continues next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.

See below for the full Daytona 500 result

Pos	Driver	#	Car	Start	Laps	Status	Points
1	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	9	200	Running	47/4
2	Dale Earnhardt Jr	88	Chevrolet	19	200	Running	42/0
3	Mark Martin	55	Toyota	14	200	Running	41/0
4	Brad Keselowski	2	Ford	15	200	Running	41/1
5	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	34	200	Running	40/1
6	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	5	200	Running	38/0
7	Regan Smith	51	Chevrolet	40	200	Running	0/0
8	Danica Patrick	10	Chevrolet	1	200	Running	37/1
9	Michael McDowell	98	Ford	38	200	Running	35/0
10	J.J. Yeley	36	Chevrolet	41	200	Running	34/0
11	Clint Bowyer	15	Toyota	10	200	Running	34/1
12	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	17	Ford	28	200	Running	32/0
13	Aric Almirola	43	Ford	26	200	Running	31/0
14	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	35	200	Running	31/1
15	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	23	200	Running	29/0
16	David Reutimann	83	Toyota	42	200	Running	28/0
17	Dave Blaney	7	Chevrolet	30	200	Running	27/0
18	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	24	200	Running	26/0
19	Joey Logano	22	Ford	21	200	Running	26/1
20	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	2	200	Running	25/1
21	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	16	200	Running	24/1
22	Michael Waltrip	26	Toyota	29	200	Running	23/1
23	Scott Speed	95	Ford	31	200	Running	22/1
24	Martin Truex Jr	56	Toyota	37	200	Running	20/0
25	Travis Kvapil	93	Toyota	43	199	Running	20/1
26	Terry Labonte	32	Ford	39	199	Running	18/0
27	Trevor Bayne	21	Ford	33	198	Running	0/0
28	Kurt Busch	78	Chevrolet	11	195	Running	16/0
29	Casey Mears	13	Ford	17	181	Running	15/0
30	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	18	176	Accident	14/0
31	Austin Dillon	33	Chevrolet	8	175	Running	0/0
32	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	20	161	Running	12/0
33	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	36	159	Running	11/0
34	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	4	151	Engine	10/0
35	David Ragan	34	Ford	22	150	Accident	9/0
36	Kasey Kahne	5	Chevrolet	6	150	Running	8/0
37	Matt Kenseth	20	Toyota	12	149	Engine	9/2
38	David Gilliland	38	Ford	25	144	Accident	6/0
39	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	7	144	Running	5/0
40	Josh Wise	35	Ford	32	137	Accident	0/0
41	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	13	118	Running	3/0
42	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	3	47	Accident	2/0
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	27	42	Engine	0/0

See below for the updated points standings

1	Jimmie Johnson	47
2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	42
3	Mark Martin	41
4	Brad Keselowski	41
5	Ryan Newman	40
6	Greg Biffle	38
7	Danica Patrick	37
8	Michael McDowell	35
9	J.J. Yeley	34
10	Clint Bowyer	34
11	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	32
12	Aric Almirola	31
13	Denny Hamlin	31
14	Bobby Labonte	29
15	David Reutimann	28
16	Dave Blaney	27
17	Marcos Ambrose	26
18	Joey Logano	26
19	Jeff Gordon	25
20	Paul Menard	24
21	Michael Waltrip	23
22	Scott Speed	22
23	Martin Truex Jr.	20
24	Travis Kvapil	20
25	Terry Labonte	18
26	Kurt Busch	16
27	Casey Mears	15
28	Jeff Burton	14
29	Jamie McMurray	12
30	Carl Edwards	11
31	Kyle Busch	10
32	David Ragan	9
33	Matt Kenseth	9
34	Kasey Kahne	8
35	David Gilliland	6
36	Juan Pablo Montoya	5
37	Josh Wise	4
38	Tony Stewart	3
39	Kevin Harvick	2
40	Regan Smith	0
41	Trevor Bayne	0
42	Austin Dillon	0
43	Joe Nemechek	0

See below for video of the Busch/Kayne incident

See below for video of the Trevor Bayne-induced multi-car wreck

See below for video of the final lap

See below for video of Jimmie Johnson in victory lane