Daytona 500 Results: Trevor Bayne Wins NASCAR Daytona 500

Trevor Bayne, the day after his 20th birthday, won his first NASCAR race, and it was the biggest—the Daytona 500, the premier event of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup season. Bayne is the youngest driver to win NASCAR’s biggest race.

“I keep thinking I‘m dreaming, I really do,” Bayne told FOX-TV.

“I am thankful for the job that these guys did on this race car—it is unbelievable. Our first 500, are you kidding me? To win our first one in our second ever Cup race, this is just incredible.

“How cool is it too, the Wood brothers back in Victory Lane!” The Wood brothers, part of NASCAR for several decades, had not had a winning car since 2001—Bayne got them back into winning in spectacular fashion.

Bayne, starting in his second Sprint Cup race, took the lead after the first Green-White-Checkered finish on lap 202. Bayne learned early how to be a great drafting partner, stayed out of trouble through the first 200 laps, and found himself at the front of the field after a series of incidents thinned the competition on the first GWC attempt.

On the first GWC, David Ragan got black-flagged for jumping the start and Robbie Gordon set off a series of collisions which collected Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Newman, while Kyle Busch had t pit with a tire rub.

When the field circled around for the second GWC, Bayne led an array of NASCAR stars and veterans: Tony Stewart, Bobby LaBonte, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Bayne made a good restart, with LaBonte latching on to him, while Kurt Busch and Montoya teamed up to make a run up the middle. Busch and Montoya didn’t have the speed, but Carl Edwards and David Gilliland did. This pair came from nowhere to steam past on the inside.

Bayne, seeing his chance at a win in jeopardy, made the winning move: he abandoned his pushing partner, Bobby LaBonte, and dropped down in front of Carl Edwards. Edwards had no way by; he didn’t have the speed or the space to go around, as David Gilliland pulled out and took his shot up the outside.

Trevor Bayne, who is not even considered a full-time Sprint Cup driver, beat the field to the finish line by .118 seconds, earning him an honor most veterans have yet to claim: Trevor Bayne won NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500.

The young driver didn’t even know how to get his car from the track to victory lane; he said over his radio, “I don’t know where to go.”

“It’s crazy to get my first Cup win before a Nationwide win,” Bayne said. “I didn’t know how to get to Victory Lane, but we’ll find our way back, because this is incredible.”

The race set a number of records besides youngest winner. There were sixteen cautions, 74 lead changes, and 22 different leaders.

A 17-car wreck on lap 29 took out some of the possible contenders, including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Greg Biffle. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton fell victim to engine failure.

Dale Earnhard Jr. drove an excellent race, and was poised to fight for the win when he got caught up in the final wreck.

“We run good and had as much fun as we could under the circumstances—it got crazy at the end,” the former Daytona 500 winner told FOX. “We just got hit in the quarter panel trying to get by a wreck.

“I want to thank all my guys on my team worked real hard to make us run as good as we did. It’s a shame we couldn’t get a good finish for them.”

Daytona 500 Results
	#	Driver	Make	Sponsor	Pts/bns	Laps	Status
1	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	0	208	Running
2	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	42/0	208	Running
3	34	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	41/0	208	Running
4	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kroger / USO	41/1	208	Running
5	22	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	40/1	208	Running
6	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	39/1	208	Running
7	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	38/1	208	Running
8	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	37/1	208	Running
9	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Peak / Menards	36/1	208	Running
10	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	34/0	208	Running
11	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Best Buy	34/1	208	Running
12	09	Bill Elliott	Chevrolet	Security Benefit / Rydex / Billboard.com	32/0	208	Running
13	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	31/0	208	Running
14	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS "We Love Logistics"	31/1	208	Running
15	32	Terry Labonte	Ford	U.S. Chrome	30/1	208	Running
16	7	Robby Gordon	Dodge	Speed Energy	29/1	208	Running
17	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	28/1	208	Running
18	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	27/1	208	Running
19	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	26/1	208	Running
20	77	Steve Wallace	Toyota	5-Hour Energy	0	208	Running
21	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	24/1	207	Running
22	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	24/2	206	Running
23	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	21/0	206	Running
24	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy / National Guard	21/1	202	Accident
25	4	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull	19/0	199	Running
26	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	19/1	198	Accident
27	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's / Kobalt Tools	17/0	189	Running
28	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	17/1	173	Running
29	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	16/1	166	Accident
30	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	14/0	164	Running
31	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	13/0	160	Running
32	38	Travis Kvapil	Ford	Long John Silver's	0	153	Accident
33	71	Andy Lally *	Chevrolet	Super Eco-Fuel Saver	11/0	149	Running
34	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal Black	10/0	133	Accident
35	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	9/0	126	Accident
36	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	9/1	92	Engine
37	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	7/0	82	Running
38	37	Robert Richardson Jr.	Ford	North Texas Pipe	0	45	Accident
39	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM FM Energy	0	29	Accident
40	115	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	4/0	28	Accident
41	192	Brian Keselowski*	Dodge	K-Automotive Motorsports	3/0	28	Accident
42	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	3/1	22	Engine
43	46	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	1/0	10	Engine