Logano wins the Daytona 500

Joey Logano has held off all of NASCAR’s top stars to score his first Daytona 500 title.

Logano gave Roger Penske his second Daytona 500 win with a classy drive as he kept his #22 Ford in the lead group throughout the entire race.

The big move came with less than 10 laps to run when he was pushed into the lead by Clint Bowyer ahead of Jimmie Johnson. He then controlled things before a late caution brought a green-white-chequered finish.

On the final re-start a multicar wreck midway through the final lap forced the race to finish under caution with Logano out front.

“What an amazing moment. Wow. To win this race is just amazing,” said Logano.

“I have the best team on pit road for sure. These guys are awesome. My spotter did a great job giving me the information I need to get our front and stay out front before that last caution and be able to have a good restart there at the end.

“I knew I had the 15 behind me and Clint Bowyer was the best pusher I could find out there and was able to push me to the lead and I knew I wanted the outside to make sure he was behind me to work up there again.

“The agony is that you just – I keep looking at this trophy behind you and it is amazing. What a beauty.

“That feeling of winning the Daytona 500, I can’t explain how cool this is. I said in an interview that this was our worst race track last year and we worked really hard to figure out how we could get better at it and all the hard work got us the win today.”

The race appeared up until the final 20 laps to be in the hands of Hendrick Motorsports with pole sitter Jeff Gordon leading the most laps, while Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson also had time in the lead.

In the end Gordon was involved in the final big crash when he was turned by Austin Dillon and finished 33rd. Earnhardt Jr. was third while Johnson came home in fifth.

The major casualties in the race were Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski. Stewart spun into the fence on lap 41 of 200, in an incident that also collected Kenseth. While Keselowski had an engine let go 40 laps from home.

VIDEO: Race Highlights

VIDEO: Logano speaks after the race

 

RESULTS: Daytona 500

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	START	LAPS	LAPS LED	FINAL STATUS	POINTS	BONUS PTS
1	22	Joey Logano	Ford	5	203	31	Running	47	4
2	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	11	203	0	Running	42	0
3	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	3	203	32	Running	42	1
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	42	203	4	Running	41	1
5	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	2	203	39	Running	40	1
6	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	41	203	1	Running	39	1
7	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	9	203	0	Running	37	0
8	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	10	203	1	Running	37	1
9	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	13	203	0	Running	35	0
10	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	8	203	2	Running	35	1
11	38	David Gilliland	Ford	26	203	0	Running	33	0
12	9	Sam Hornish Jr	Ford	38	203	0	Running	32	0
13	46	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	27	203	1	Running	32	1
14	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	30	203	0	Running	30	0
15	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	33	203	0	Running	29	0
16	41	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	24	203	0	Running	28	0
17	34	David Ragan	Ford	28	203	0	Running	27	0
18	83	Johnny Sauter	Toyota	36	203	0	Running	0	0
19	18	Matt Crafton	Toyota	4	203	0	Running	25	0
20	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	40	203	1	Running	25	1
21	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	20	203	0	Running	23	0
22	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	19	203	0	Running	22	0
23	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	15	203	0	Running	21	0
24	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	6	203	3	Running	21	1
25	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	34	203	0	Running	19	0
26	32	Bobby Labonte	Ford	43	203	0	Running	18	0
27	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	21	203	0	Running	17	0
28	33	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	31	203	0	Running	0	0
29	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	32	203	0	Running	15	0
30	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	37	203	0	Running	14	0
31	95	Michael McDowell	Ford	23	203	0	Running	13	0
32	44	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	14	203	0	Running	12	0
33	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	1	203	87	Running	13	2
34	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	29	202	0	Accident	10	0
35	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	35	202	0	Running	9	0
36	66	Mike Wallace	Toyota	16	199	0	Running	8	0
37	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	18	197	0	Accident	7	0
38	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	22	184	0	Running	6	0
39	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	12	175	0	Engine	0	0
40	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	25	161	1	Running	0	0
41	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	39	160	0	Engine	3	0
42	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	7	72	0	Accident	2	0
43	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	17	18	0	Engine	0	0