Pole-sitter Chase Elliott out of Daytona 500 early

Fast facts: Chase Elliott became the youngest pole victor in race history at 20, topping front-row qualifying Sunday.

Fourth-place Elliott Sadler was the only driver eligible for the Xfinity championship to finish in the top five. He also won the second-tier Xfinity Series race Saturday.

Despite the initial concern, Logano was beyond pleased with the race with Elliott, saying he would make the same maneuver with a win on the line.

Of the four Hendrick Motorsports cars that started the race, two remain with just over 10 laps to go.

“It means a lot to me that he keeps up with what we’re doing”, Kyle said.

“We really underestimated how important handling was going to be today”, he said.

“Chase obviously did what he had to do there at the end of the race”, said JR Motorsports owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has Elliott signed on for a handful of Xfinity races this season.

The race was the 15th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt Sr. dying in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

The victory is the fifth of the 20-year-old’s NXS career and first at Daytona, giving him a boost heading into Sunday’s Cup race where he starts from the pole. Elliott calmly climbed out of his vehicle, grabbed the checkered flag and then pumped his fist a few times in the air.

A week earlier, Elliott won the pole at 20 years, 2 months and 17 days.

Now Elliott heads into his first Daytona 500 with 120 laps more experience working with spotter Eddie D’Hondt while competing with aggressive drivers such as Logano.

But none of his achievements seemed to matter as the banged-up 24 was towed to the garage. “This thing is so special, so I’m real excited”. We can’t get caught up in what happened today.

Earnhardt said in retrospect that his position as a pre-race favorite, based on how the auto performed in the Duels and practice, might have been deceptive.

“The wind was in the door all the way through Turn 4”, Earnhardt said.

The “we” would be Earnhardt and the auto he named after Amelia Earhart. “And then I got hooked on his right rear, and that’s what killed my momentum…. hat contact just stopped my vehicle”. He never touched either vehicle but shot through the opening, hit the inside wall, was knocked backwards and into the grass near the Sprint Cup logo. “I’ve been really working on the balance of the vehicle”.

Hamlin waited until one lap to go to pull out of line and hope to get a big enough shove to get to Kenseth.