5 Takeaways: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. clips Joey Logano to win longest Daytona 500 in NASCAR history

DAYTONA BEACH — Around 7 p.m. on Sunday, the 65^th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway became the longest in history in terms of laps (212) and miles (530).

As it turned out, the last handful of both, albeit spectacular, were unnecessary.

Ricky Stenhouse led the field to the green flag to start a second attempt at overtime and after losing the lead to Joey Logano at the white flag, found himself inches ahead as a crash in Turn 1 brought out a caution on the last lap.

That was enough to give Stenhouse the victory, as he became 42^nd different winner of the Great American Race. It marked the third career victory for the 35-year-old with all of them coming on superspeedways and two of them coming at Daytona.

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Needless to say, Stenhouse feels right at home at the World Center of Racing.

“Man, this is unbelievable,” Stenhouse said. “This was the site of my last win back in 2017. We've worked really hard. We had a couple shots last year to get a win and fell short. It was a tough season, but man, we got it done, Daytona 500.”

There was nothing conventional about how Stenhouse and his team got it done. Luckily, the how didn’t really matter.

“I think this whole off-season, (crew chief) Mike (Kelley) just preached how much we all believed in each other,” Stenhouse added. “They left me a note in the car that said they believe in me and to go get the job done tonight. I made a few mistakes. We were able to battle back.”

Stenhouse grabbed the lead on the first lap of an initial overtime attempt with the field crashing behind him, necessitating another try. Logano, seeking his second Daytona 500 win, made a run to the front as the white flag waved but Stenhouse battled back with a push from Christopher Bell.

Those three cars broke away down the backstretch as Kyle Larson, hooked by Travis Pastrana, slammed headfirst into the outside wall. The bump from Bell was just enough to get Stenhouse by and in the nick of time.

Logano and Bell finished second and third, followed by Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman.

Here are five takeaways from Stenhouse’s thrilling win at Daytona.

Joey Logano replays the final lap in heartbreaking finish

For every breakthrough, there’s several heartbreaks and that was certainly the case for the reigning Cup Series champion.

Logano came up just inches short in his quest for a second Harley J. Earl trophy to put with his two series titles despite leading at the white flag. Logano just couldn’t quite hold on as a crash behind the leaders fell at an inopportune time.

Afterwards, he recounted the final moments.

“Leading the white-flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle (Busch) gave me a good push and, yeah, you're watching in the mirror and you're three-wide across there,” Logano explained. “I felt like the three-wide was going a hurt a lane; looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead.

“I knew if I went to the bottom my car didn't handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once and I thought, if I go down there I'm probably going to get wrecked, and I don't know if I can get down there in time to throw the block and so, I didn't want to wreck my car either. Then you don't expect them to wreck either. You think you're racing to the checkered flag and you put yourself in the best position to try to win at the start-finish line, and just caution came out — you wish you could race to the end. Obviously you can't when they wreck that much.”

A long, detailed explanation then gave way to a simple sentiment.

“Dammit,” Logano said. “I don’t know what else you can really say. It sucks finishing second in the Daytona 500.”

Christopher Bell happy with third place, kind of

Bell was the third and final car in the lead breakaway and before the race, Bell said he would’ve taken third place and run with it. But after, being so close, even if it’s the last thing he expected, Bell admitted he was left wanting just a little more.

Two more positions, to be precise.

“I hate superspeedway racing, it’s been my Achilles’ Heel for a number of years so just running third at the Daytona 500 is a big deal,” Bell said. “But being so close, I just feel bummed. I feel like we were in position here. But overall, I’m happy for Ricky. He’s won multiple speedway races and been close at the Daytona 500. I’m happy for him.”

Early crash takes out Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones

A crash in the second stage took out a few contenders with Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones all bowing out long before the late fireworks erupted.

Reddick was leading the outside lane and attempted to gather momentum to challenge for the lead with 13 laps to go in Stage 2. But a push from Kevin Harvick turned Reddick into the outside wall and after bouncing off, he collected several cars, ending the day for Elliott and Jones.

For Elliott, who ended up 38^th, it was another empty attempt at becoming part of the fifth father-and-son duo to win the Daytona 500, with Bill Elliott claiming two Harley J. Earl trophies. The Elliotts would join Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ned and Dale Jarrett, Lee and Richard Petty, and Bobby and Davey Allison.

“By the time we got slowed up, they were coming back across the track and I was the lucky winner to get there first,” Elliott said of the crash. “It’s a bummer …. long ways to go. Hate to end the day, but it is what it is.”

Alex Bowman’s roller coaster ride

From the pole and leading early laps to back in the pack to damage on pit road to a chance to win, Alex Bowman went through the gamut of emotions on Sunday as so many do.

“We had a really fast Ally Camaro,” Bowman said. “Speedway racing ... and the race was interesting. We were kind of all locked side-by-side and nobody could really go anywhere.”

Still, at the end of it all, Bowman came home fifth and made a little history in doing so, becoming the first pole sitter to finish in the top five of the Daytona 500 since 2001.

Fords fail to finish

Stenhouse’s late heroics spoiled what was shaping up to be a Ford freight train.

Several blue ovals — Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Aric Almirola and Logano among them — spent significant time up front, several times with multi-car, single-file lines leading the field.

That included down the stretch as Keselowski, who led with four laps to go and was trying to win the 500 in his 14^th attempt, seemingly controlled the field. All told, the Ford camp led a combined 31 times for 122 laps but didn’t lead the right one.

It marked Chevrolet’s first Daytona 500 win since Austin Dillon won in 2018.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins 2023 Daytona 500: 5 Takeaways from NASCAR race