Thumbs Up
Carl Edwards
Talk about a bounce back kind of day. 20 or so laps into the Great American Race, Edwards got loose and tapped the wall, causing damage to the right front of his number 19 machine. That didn’t cause him and his team to hang their heads. After countless pit stops to work on his car, Cousin Carl found himself in a position to win the race at the end. Carl salvaged his day with a 5th place finish and more importantly, momentum.
Denny Hamlin
Pure domination from the Chesterfield native is what was on display Sunday. Hamlin led 95 laps, including the most important one, Lap 200. Denny was locked in all day, and pulled off one of the best moves seen at Daytona on the last lap to pass Matt Kenseth for the lead. 11th time is the charm for Denny Hamlin as he captured his first Daytona 500 victory.
The Fans
Of course Denny Hamlin had a great day after putting his number 11 FedEx Toyota in victory lane, but the fans were the real winner. The race Sunday was actioned packed from lap 1 to lap 200. With one turn left in the race, Denny Hamlin juked right, then went left to pass Matt Kenseth for the lead. That’s not where the action stopped. The final straight away was a drag race between Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. Hamlin edged out Truex by one hundredth of a second to take the checkered flag. This was the closet finish in NASCAR history.
Thumbs Down
Matt Kenseth
It went from an almost great day, to a heartbreak in just one lap. That lap though, was the most important lap of the race. Matt Kenseth did his best to block Denny Hamlin and company, but just fell short. Kenseth went from 1st to 14th in a quarter of a lap. Oh what could’ve been for Matt Kenseth and the 20 team.
Hendrick Motorsports
With success comes failure. It wasn’t a good day for the Hendrick Motorsports camp. Rookie Chase Elliott, who was on the pole for Sunday’s race, got loose on lap 20 and ended up crushing the front end of his car. Elliott finished 37th. His teammate, and race favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out on lap 169. The 18 year veteran tried to correct his car, but ended up hitting the wall. Junior finished 36th. Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson didn’t have car troubles, but just couldn’t get a late push at the end to contend for the win. The two finished 13th and 16th respectively.
Roush Racing
This organization has been struggling for the past year or so, and nothing changed on Sunday. The best finisher from the three car team was Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who placed 22nd. Long time Veteran Greg Biffle had success early on in the race while he was running in the Top 10, but a spin out on lap 184 caused him to finish 34th.
