By Kent Whitaker
Michael McDowell made Daytona 500 history by scoring his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.
McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, ran fast during the entire race and was in a position to win as the final laps clicked away. He started 17th in the race and ran towards the front for much of the rain extended event.
When the final lap came, it was Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski charging towards the finish line. McDowell had a push from behind which closed the gap forcing the issue of who would win.
A second later, Logano and Keselowski, wrecked vying for the lead, and spun out.
McDowell split the two and headed to the front. NASCAR threw the race-ending caution flag which sealed the win for the 36-year-old driver and father of four. It was a win that McDowell says he’s thankful for.
“I can’t believe it,” McDowell said after his win. “I’ve got to thank God. So many years of just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank (team owner) Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity.
I’m so thankful. What a great way to get (the) first victory — in the Daytona 500!”
With the win, McDowell became the eighth NASCAR driver to earn their first Cup Series win by winning the Daytona 500. It was his 358th Cup Series career start.
Denny Hamlin was the Oddsmakers Favorite
Oddsmakers put Denny Hamlin at the top of the favorites list to win his fourth Daytona 500. If he had, it would have been his third in a row. Hamlin won his first Daytona 500 in 2016 and twice again going back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.
During those three Daytona 500 victories, Hamlin amassed 204 laps as the 500 leader. In 2016 he was out front for 95 laps. He surpassed that in 2021 by being the race leader for almost 100 laps as he was out front for a staggering 98 cycles around the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Even with that much time out front, Hamlin could not grab his fourth win. An ill-timed pitstop may have been his downfall. The field, led by Fords, overtook Hamlin and other Toyotas as cars cycled through a final late-race pitstop.
Hamlin moved to the 13th position and was separated from other Toyotas driven by Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace.
Hamlin and the other Toyotas were stuck in a single file line that raced to end with little hope of making passes for position.
Eventually, Hamlin worked his way back towards the front during the closing laps and skirted through the last lap wreck that ended the race where he finished fifth.
“I don’t know,” said Hamlin. “You gotta go for the win. I tried to do everything I could from 12th. I kept pulling out of line, trying to side-draft guys, try to pick them off one by one.
But I couldn’t make it happen. Once I got to eighth in line after I passed some lapped cars, I was like, ‘This is all I’ve got.’
I just hoped that they’d crash with two to go and we’d get a restart and then I’ve get a shot. It just didn’t happen in our favor.”
Penske Wrecks Out of Winning
The writing may have been on the door early for Team Penske when driver Ryan Blaney was collected in an early wreck. Blaney, Keselowski, and Logano all had fast cars as did their affiliated team of Wood Brothers Racing.
Matt Bendedideto, the driver for Wood Brothers, was collected along with Blaney and several others on lap 13 of the race.
That left Logano and Keselowski racing for the lead at the end, both are winners at Daytona, trying to hold off McDowell and the remaining cars in the field.
Seconds later, both drivers were spinning across the speedway signaling an end to their hopes of winning the 2021 Daytona 500.
“Pandemonium, I guess. Chaos struck,” Logano said following the race. “Keselowski kept trying to back up, trying to get a run. I was trying to back up to him to keep the runs from being too big and just,
I guess he got to the back of McDowell and it ended up being a really big run coming at me and it seemed like we all just collided in one spot.
It’s a real bummer that none of the Penske cars won, but at least a Ford won and I’m really happy for McDowell.”
Keselowski exited his car following the wreck and could be seen smashing his helmet against it in frustration.
“I had a big run down the backstretch,” Keselowski said following the race. “Went to make the pass to win the Daytona 500, and it ended up really bad.
Don’t feel like I made a mistake, but I can’t drive everyone else’s car. Frustrating.”
The Wrecks
The first car-on-car contact came early in the race when Derrick Cope connected with Darrell “Bubba” Wallace causing damage to both cars.
The wreck ended the day for Cope on lap 3 as he was making what was probably his final time behind the wheel of a Cup Series car.
The 62-year-old driver and racing executive won the Daytona 500 in 1990 as he trailed Dale Earnhardt Sr coming to the checkered flag. Earnhardt cut a tire and Cope took the win.
This year, it was Cope who had a cut tire to end his race.
The next wreck occurred on lap thirteen as drivers were pushing for a position to beat forecast rain that was bearing down on the speedway.
A chain reaction wreck damaged several cars and ten were forced out of the race including pole winner Alex Bowman. Moments later the race was red-flagged for lightning and rain.
The rain delay lasted six hours
The biggest wreck of the race came on the final lap which took out race leaders Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. The two teammates were running one-two with McDowell trailing their bumpers.
Keselowski jumped down to make the pass but Logano tried a blocking move. They touched, lost momentum, and McDowell and the cars behind them were in a position to take advantage of the pending crash.
As Logano and Keselowski collided and spun away from each other it was McDowell who had the clean shot between the two Penske drivers.
McDowell steamed ahead with Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott and a handful of other cars in tow. The remaining cars in the race were caught up in the wreck or limped towards the finish line.
In all, only eleven of the 40 cars that started the 2021 Daytona 500 crossed the finish line on the lead lap.
| Stage One Winners | Stage Two Winners |
| Denny Hamlin Ryan Preece Austin Dillon Kyle Larson Austin Cindric Christopher Bell Bubba Wallace Joey Logano Ross Chastain Cole Custer | Denny Hamlin Kevin Harvick Bubba Wallace Chase Elliott Austin Dillon Joey Logano Michael McDowell Kyle Larson Kyle Busch Brad Keselowski |
Official Finishing Order for the 2021 Daytona 500
Michael McDowell 200 Running
Chase Elliott 200 Running
Austin Dillon 200 Running
Kevin Harvick 200 Running
Denny Hamlin 200 Running
Ryan Preece 200 Running
Ross Chastain 200 Running
Jamie McMurray 200 Running
Corey LaJoie 200 Running
Kyle Larson 200 Running
Cole Custer 200 Running
Joey Logano 199 Accident
Brad Keselowski 199 Accident
Kyle Busch 199 Accident
Austin Cindric 199 Accident
Christopher Bell 199 Running
Bubba Wallace 198 Accident
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 198 Running
Chase Briscoe 197 Running
Joey Gase 197 Running
Cody Ware 196 Running
Kurt Busch 196 Running
B.J. McLeod 195 Running
Josh Bilicki 195 Running
Martin Truex Jr. 194 Running
William Byron 193 Running
Tyler Reddick 188 Running
Kaz Grala 115 DVP
Quin Houff 37 Accident
Ryan Blaney 14 Accident
Chris Buescher 14 DVP
Anthony Alfredo 14 DVP
Matt DiBenedetto 14 DVP
Aric Almirola 13 Accident
Alex Bowman 13 Accident
Daniel Suarez 13 Accident
David Ragan 13 Accident
Ryan Newman 13 Accident
Erik Jones 13 Accident
Derrike Cope 3 Accident
2020 Daytona 500 Stats
Time of race: 3:27:44
Average speed: 141.416 mph
Pole speed: 191.261 mph
Cautions: 7 for 40 laps (Not including Red Flag rain delay)
Lead changes: 22
Green flag passes: 2,755 (17.2 per green flag lap)
NASCAR
“Kent Whitaker, often called ‘the Deck Chef‘ is a sportswriter, culinary writer, and cookbook author with fourteen titles. He covers NASCAR, racing in general, Football, barbecue, grilling, and tailgating. You can visit him on www.thedeckchef.com .”