Hamlin uses daring move to give Joe Gibbs a Daytona 500 win

Denny Hamlin edged Martin Truex Jr.to win the closest Daytona 500 in history on Sunday.

The 35-year-old now is in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in his first race with new crew chief Mike Wheeler and finally has a 500.

Denny Hamlin had hardly finished celebrating his win in an exhibition race when team owner Joe Gibbs gave an order.

Despite the photo finish and his spotter “going absolutely ballistic on the radio screaming”, Truex never thought he won. “It just came from where it did”. “This wouldn’t be possible if this wasn’t Toyotas sticking together all race long”.

Now with Sunday’s win, Toyota, which swept the top three places, has established itself as a worthy competitor to the Ford and General Motors brands in the hearts and minds of NASCAR fans.

The Hendricks Motorsports team mates had been among the pre-race favorites.

The two-time 500 victor used his Twitter account to say the race “is going to be a brawl”.

The three-time Super Bowl winning coach made it clear during Speedweeks that he wanted another Daytona 500 victory, and his drivers were clear on the task at hand.

The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Hamlin, Busch and Kenseth, along with corporate teammate Truex of Furniture Row Racing, dominated the top four positions throughout much of the race, mostly with Hamlin out front.

Truex started the final lap running second, drafting behind Matt Kenseth in the lead. As Hamlin charged to the front, they made contact and Kenseth got shuffled to the outside, brushing the wall.

Edwards was the first auto a lap behind when another wreck brought out another caution flag.

Earnhardt says his team has been talked up quite a bit this week but he hopes people don’t underestimate the competition. We gotta do a little more drafting I think there the next time we come back and be ready for the balance and the things they threw at us today. “I didn’t think either way”. “I’ll admit that I thought within the first five years we might have a shot at a championship”. Another Toyota, driven by Mart Truex Jr., was third.

Columbia NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, the right front corner of his vehicle held together by numerous strips of tape, has rallied from a lap down at the halfway point of the Daytona 500 to finish fifth. “We know how hard we’ll have to work to come close to what we accomplished past year with Kyle”. We were not ready. Because it’s Daytona, a race you do whatever it takes to win. “I assumed we won when that happened”, Hamlin said. I can’t even figure out what I did. “Once Denny jumped up, he just got such a huge boost from (Harvick)”.

Indeed, Martin lost to Kevin Harvick by 0.020 seconds in 2007. “They were working together better than anybody and they had the fastest cars and they deserved to win the race”.

“You’d rather get beat by a few feet than 4 inches, absolutely”, Truex said. “Got me by a couple feet”.

At drop of green flag, Chase Elliott is followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch. That partnership essentially makes Truex a de facto teammate of the four he was racing at Daytona International Speedway.