Hamlin Wins Daytona 500

Hamlin Wins Daytona 500

Updated Feb. 17, 2020 10:14 p.m. ET

For the third time in five years, Denny Hamlin emerged victorious at the Daytona 500 on Monday. 

In what was an otherwise calm race, chaos ensued in the final laps, punctuated by this crash involving Ryan Newman: 

Here is an update on Newman's status from NASCAR: 

We will provide more updates on Newman's status as they become available.

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Relive the rest of the race with our live coverage below:

Sunday at the 2020 Daytona 500 was rained out after just 20 laps, meaning there was a lot of racing left to do on President's Day.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who claimed pole position for Sunday's start, held the lead at the restart, followed by Joey Logano and Aric Almirola.

But Jimmie Johnson led the field pre-race with a lap of honor, in what is mostly likely his final Daytona 500.

Everyone was showing him love today.

Along with his daughter, who seems ready to follow in her father's footsteps.

Right before the race, we got a personal tour of the grid walk, courtesy of NASCAR on FOX:

And a one-of-a-kind aerial view of the track, too!

Finally, it was time – again. The sun was out, the engines were hot.

Green meant go!

In Lap 59, we have our first crash of the day.

Thankfully he was okay, and we checked in with him after exiting from the track.

Back on the track, Chase Elliot won Stage 1.

There was trouble in the back straightaway for Quin Houff and BJ McLeod in the early part of Stage 2.

But crashes weren't the only thing that caused damage on the track. 

And that completed Stage 2.

Denny Hamlin held off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Logano to finish in front with 70 laps to go.

The final stage did not get off to the best start for Martin Truex Jr.

Luckily, only the gas can suffered damage.

Meanwhile, the other drivers put the pedal to the metal early in the final stage, with Kyle Busch taking the lead.

But not for long.

The problems didn't stop there for Stenhouse.

As the end neared, a veteran found his opportunity to take over.

WIth 19 laps to go, Kyle Busch lost power.

But shortly after, there was a big BOOM.

Jimmie Johnson, former leader Keselowki, Kurt Busch, Almirola, Wallace and Johnson were all impacted by the crash.

Somehow, Clint Bowyer navigated through unscathed.

 As did Kevin Harvick.

But others were not as lucky.

The Candy Man's day turned sour.

A victory at Daytona is the one thing missing from his extensive resume – he's second all time in laps led without winning, and is now 0-15.

The newest leader was Ryan Newman.

There was never a dull moment in the final laps.

Seriously, it was action packed. A big run by Ross Chastain ends, with him taking out a few in his wake including former leader Elliot.

Yikes.

As we entered racing's version of overtime, we thought we were finally good to go.

But we were duped.

It was all yellow.

After a wild, scary finish, Denny Hamlin – for the second year in a row, and third time since 2016 – came out victorious.

Congratulations to Hamlin.

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