Daytona 500: Austin Dillon takes emotional win after chaotic last-lap

Austin Dillon took the iconic No. 3 to Victory Lane on Sunday afternoon, honoring the memory of Dale Earnhardt, who drove that auto number the day he died on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. Dillon led one lap en route to victory driving the famed No. 3.

And 20 years after Dale Earnhardt Sr put the 3 vehicle into victory lane, Dillon has now done the same.

Almirola was running first and in the clear when the white flag dropped, but a late freight-train in the form of Austin Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr. caught Almirola’s No. 10 down the stretch. Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Joey Logano finished third.

A wreck involving multiple cars – it’s usually called “The Big One” – is a fact of life at Daytona, making it a race of attrition.

2017 Daytona 500 victor Kurt Busch took the first green-and-white checkered as a massive pile up involving William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Ty Dillon, Kyle Larson and others out to finish Stage 1 of Sunday’s race. And as recently reported by Rare Country, Dale Sr. also won the 1998 Daytona 500 with a penny given to him by a fan glued onto his dashboard. I love you guys.

In 1986 Earnhardt was in the lead then ran out of gas with three laps remaining. “It is what it is here at Daytona”. “I don’t care. I’ve got the 3 back in victory lane at Daytona”.

The 33-year-old was leading with one lap to go but was forced to block both lanes on the backstretch to maintain his advantage.

The victory was Dillon’s second in Cup – his other came at Charlotte Motor Speedway a year ago. Said Suarez: “It looked like the 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) just got freed up there by the 12 (Blaney), unfortunately”. With three to go, Hamlin took the lead. “We were staying upfront and out of trouble, it just didn’t work out”.

“The emotions are just flowing, Childress said in Victory Lane”. I don’t like that the 500-mile mark is just a reference point, again NASCAR is staging or determining the outcome of the finish of the race. “I still haven’t seen the replay, so I don’t know what happened, but I’m just devastated”.

Sunday’s race was Almirola’s first with Stewart-Haas racing after six years driving the No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports.

But for a driver who entered the race with only four starts at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup level, it was heady stuff.

And Richard Childress had a second, as far as the No. 3 is concerned.

McReynolds: It seemed like the deeper we got into Speedweeks, the better the vehicle got. If he needs to do it to (retaliate) at Talladega for everybody to feel good, I’ve got a Daytona 500 championship trophy, ring, whatever.

With three laps to go, defending champion Kurt Busch lost control of his vehicle on the outside line and collected a wide array of drivers, including Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. “It’s a new team for me but we worked together for my debut for my first four races in the 43 vehicle. Thank you! Thank you!”