2020 Daytona 500

The 2020 Daytona 500 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 16-17, 2020. The race lasted 209 laps on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway. However, the race was originally going to be 200 laps. It was the first race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The race was started by President of the United States Donald Trump, who served as Grand Marshal, and the opening lap was paced by the official Presidential state car.[1] Popular wrestler Sheamus drove the pace car for the opening laps. Two-time winner of the race Dale Earnhardt Jr. waved the green flag to officially start the race.

The race was to start February 16, but never-ending rain showers stopped the race on lap 20. The race was moved 4 p.m. on February 17, 2020. This being the second, he first time was in 2012.[2]

Lots of the race was good until lap 185, a crash involved at least 20 cars on the backstretch. The race was stopped because of the crash. Denny Hamlin won the race by 0.014 seconds over Ryan Blaney on the second restart in overtime. Chris Buescher, David Ragan, and Kevin Harvick rdid not make it in the top five. On the final lap, Ryan Newman was involved in a serious crash and was immediately rushed to a local hospital. He was seriously injured in the crash, but the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.[3]

Race

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 65

Pos No Driver Team Manufacturer Points
1 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10
2 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 9
3 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 8
4 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 7
5 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6
6 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 5
7 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 4
8 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 3
9 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2
10 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 1
Official stage one results

Stage Two Laps: 65

Pos No Driver Team Manufacturer Points
1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10
2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 9
3 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daughtery Racing Chevrolet 8
4 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 7
5 77 Ross Chastain (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 0
6 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 5
7 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 4
8 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 3
9 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 2
10 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 70

Pos Grid No Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
1 21 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 209 50
2 27 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 209 43
3 19 17 Chris Buescher Roush Fenway Racing Ford 209 37
4 30 36 David Ragan Rick Ware Racing Ford 209 33
5 10 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 209 32
6 29 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 209 31
7 39 62 Brendan Gaughan (i) Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 209 0
8 38 32 Corey LaJoie Go Fas Racing Ford 209 29
9 7 6 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 209 28
10 8 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 209 27
11 23 38 John Hunter Nemechek (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 209 26
12 13 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 209 25
13 33 16 Justin Haley (i) Kaulig Racing Chevrolet 209 0
14 26 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 209 23
15 11 43 Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 209 22
16 34 15 Brennan Poole (R) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 209 21
17 25 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 209 34
18 14 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 208 19
19 16 21 Matt DiBenedetto Wood Brothers Racing Ford 207 21
20 1 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 206 29
21 17 95 Christopher Bell (R) Leavine Family Racing Toyota 205 16
22 5 10 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 205 23
23 37 51 Joey Gase (i) Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 203 0
24 2 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 22
25 20 77 Ross Chastain (i) Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 201 0
26 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 200 20
27 32 66 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Toyota 200 0
28 22 8 Tyler Reddick (R) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 199 9
29 31 37 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 198 8
30 24 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 198 8
31 40 27 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 192 6
32 15 19 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 186 12
33 18 1 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota 184 4
34 28 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 184 12
35 6 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 184 13
36 9 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 183 1
37 12 41 Cole Custer (R) Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 174 1
38 38 52 B. J. McLeod (i) Rick Ware Racing Ford 105 0
39 35 00 Quin Houff (R) StarCom Racing Chevrolet 89 1
40 4 24 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 58 1
Official race results

Race statistics

  • Lead changes: 23 among 13 different drivers
  • Cautions/Laps: 9 for 39
  • Red flags: 3 (1 for weather, 2 for accidents)
  • Time of race: 3 hours, 42 minutes and 10 seconds
  • Margin of Victory: 0.014 seconds
  • Average speed: 141.11 miles per hour (227.09 km/h)

Post-race

Right after the race was done, Hamlin and his crew did not know how serious Newman's crash. Instead, they started to celebrate the win, When he exited his car, the crowd booed him both on the infield grass and again in victory lane. Joe Gibbs gave an apology for the team's celebration, with Hamlin saying he was first notified when NASCAR canceled the tradition of interviewing the winner on the front-stretch before driving his car to victory lane[4]

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
  1 Denny Hamlin 50
  2 Ryan Blaney 43 (–7)
  3 Kevin Harvick 39 (–11)
  4 Chris Buescher 38 (–12)
  5 Ryan Newman 36 (–14)
  6 Kyle Larson 35 (–15)
  7 Chase Elliott 34 (–16)
  8 David Ragan 33 (–17)
  9 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 32 (–18)
  10 Aric Almirola 32 (–18)
  11 Clint Bowyer 31 (–19)
  12 Austin Dillon 30 (–20)
  13 Joey Logano 30 (–20)
  14 Corey LaJoie 29 (–21)
  15 Bubba Wallace 28 (–22)
  16 John Hunter Nemechek 26 (–24)
Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings
Pos Manufacturer Points
  1 Toyota 40
  2 Ford 35 (–5)
  3 Chevrolet 30 (–10)
  • Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

2020 Daytona 500 Media

References

  1. Bromberg, Nick. "President Donald Trump leads field on a pace lap after giving command ahead of Daytona 500". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  2. Busbee, Jay (February 16, 2020). "Daytona 500 postponed to Monday due to rain". Yahoo Sports. https://sports.yahoo.com/daytona-500-postponed-to-monday-due-to-rain-235051849.html. 
  3. Ryan Newman transported to hospital after crash at end of Daytona 500, Sporting News, February 18 2020
  4. "Gibbs apologizes for post-race celebration". 18 February 2020.