Daytona 500 live updates: Massive wreck in final lap gives Michael McDowell the win

NASCAR’s season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway is Sunday. The Daytona 500 is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on FOX.

Alex Bowman is starting on the pole for the 200-lap race (500 miles) on the 2.5-mile tri-oval. Stages will end on laps 65, 130 and 200.

This page will be updated throughout the day with the latest news and notes happening throughout NASCAR. Results will be posted here after the race. All times are ET.

Daytona 500 NASCAR race results

Daytona 500 live updates

Stage 3:

CHECKERED FLAG: Michael McDowell wins. Full results will be posted here shortly.

11:56 p.m., Lap 176: It’s Joey Logano out front with the Fords, taking advantage of that pit stop on Lap 170. Harvick is in second place.

11:52 p.m., Lap 170: Denny Hamlin sits up front still, but Harvick and Logano just went to pit road to try and make one last push at the defending Daytona 500 champ. Kyle Busch is now in second and hasn’t pitted since 131.

11:42 p.m., Lap 156: Denny Hamlin remains in control, though Kevin Harvick continues to push him. Joey Logano sits in third. Hamlin’s last pit stop was in Lap 131.

Stage 2

11:15 p.m., Lap 130: Denny Hamlin sweeps both stages of the Daytona 500. He’s followed by Kevin Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski in the top-10. This race could come down to last season’s two winningest drivers.

11:03 p.m., Lap 128: Denny Hamlin leads after the restart, followed by Bubba Wallace. Michael McDowell makes a move to form the bottom lane and Wallace drops low to hold the front. He surges ahead of Hamlin to lead one lap and becomes the first Black driver to lead a lap of the Daytona 500.

10:49 p.m., Lap 112: Christopher Bell loses a left rear tire while running in the middle of a three-wide field. He hits Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Larson as he slides back and into the outside wall. Larson had led a lap after green flag pit stops that were led by Fords (then Toyotas then Chevrolets). As the caution is out, the right rear of Kaz Grala’s No. 16 car goes up in flames. An emergency response team takes multiple tries to extinguish it. Larson’s radio says he will return to the race.

10:44 p.m., Lap 100: The race has reached the halfway point and is now official. NASCAR deems a race official once it reaches the halfway point or the end of the second stage, whichever comes first. In this case, it’s the 100-lap halfway point. Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin continue leading the pack, but green flag pit stops will start happening soon.

10:33 p.m., Lap 88: Christopher Bell continues to lead with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson in tow. They’re running a single file line on the outside. Spotters say over the radio that their visibility is improving.

10:26 p.m. Lap 78: Christopher Bell leads a row of Gibbs teammates in Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Busch says on his radio that he feels faster with Bell out front. “We’re running faster here with Bell leading than with Denny and I was second, so I think we’re good on speed,” Busch says.

Meanwhile, spotters are complaining about fog lowering over the track and poor visibility.

10:23 p.m., Lap 69: Austin Cindric leads a lap from the outside lane after the restart for the stage break. He’s followed by Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, as they battle Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell leading the inside lane.

Stage 1

10:08 p.m., Lap 60: Denny Hamlin wins Stage 1, followed by Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Cole Custer in the top-10 for stage points. Kyle Busch dropped to 12th.

10:02 p.m., Lap 57: Fewer than 10 laps to go with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric and Dillon in top-five running top line. Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Christopher Bell are the next five. Leaders are riding the top lane.

9:53 p.m., Lap 46: Denny Hamlin leads after the restart, but Bubba Wallace makes a strong move to challenge him on the inside lane. He eventually loses air and eventually falls back into the single-file top lane.

9:41 p.m., Lap 38: That piece of bumper evidently caught Quin Houff’s car and there’s contact between Briscoe and Houff in Turn 1. The caution flag comes out. Houff exits the race with damage.

9:34 p.m., Lap 30 Green flag: After heavy fog cleared around the track and drivers made multiple laps under caution, the race goes green. Denny Hamlin leads early, followed by the Ford of Brad Keselowski and then the Toyotas of Bubba Wallace and Kyle Busch. William Byron gets penalized for parts of his rear bumper coming off.

9:08 p.m., Red flag lifted: The race goes yellow as teams with damage attempt to make repairs while on the six-minute clock, but teams for three drivers Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto and Anthony Alfredo aren’t able to get it done and they exit the race. The red flag lasted five hours and 40 minutes. Tyler Reddick, Jamie McMurray, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch are still in the race, but laps down with damaged vehicles. They’re racing for positions.

8:47 p.m., Red flag: Drivers are at their cars. Rain has stopped and the radar looks clear. Looks like we’ll see more racing tonight.

8:22 p.m., Red flag: NASCAR is still making progress drying and says it is targeting a 9 p.m. restart and calling drivers to their cars at 8:45 p.m.

8:05 p.m., Red flag: NASCAR radios that it’s making progress drying the track surface so it’s possible this race resumes tonight. According to the weather radar, there will be more rain incoming, but it’s light for now. If it continues to sprinkle at this light level and NASCAR is able to dry the track, there could be a window to finish the race. If the rain gets heavier, maybe not.

7:50 p.m., Red flag: Yes, it’s still raining. The ability to get this race in tonight is trending in the wrong direction.

5:44 p.m., Red flag: Track drying efforts have been called off as rain has returned to the track. According to Motorsport, if the race can’t be restarted today due to weather, it will likely restart 4 p.m. Monday on FOX. As the race remains delayed, FOX is airing a replay of Tuesday’s Busch Clash.

4:40 p.m., Red flag: NASCAR announces that the lightning hold has been lifted, but the track is wet due to rain and the Air Titans are working on drying the superspeedway.

Joey Logano tells FS1 that his plans now are to, “Eat! That’s all you do during these things.”

Sure enough, that’s what others are doing. Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick have both shared their rain delay plans on Twitter that include mid-race meals. Briscoe made a stop at Panda Express, while Reddick opted for American comfort food from Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.

4:35 p.m., Red flag: Three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin and his team’s 23XI driver Bubba Wallace skirted the wreckage as both raced at the back of the pack.

“Predictable, I guess,” Hamlin tells FOX. “... Anxious moments, but it works out for us.”

4:03 p.m., Red flag: Updated list of drivers who are out of the Daytona 500: Derrike Cope, Aric Almirola, David Ragan, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suárez, Alex Bowman, Ryan Newman and Erik Jones. They have all been evaluated and released from the infield care center, per NASCAR, but their days are done.

“That racecar was so fast,” Bowman says. “Not much else to say about it. Just a big bummer to get caught up in somebody else’s mess again. Hate that it happened so early. Hate that it happened at all.”

William Byron tweeted that he believes he can get his car fixed and return to the race. Anthony Alfredo also tweeted that he intends to return to the race.

“We are hoping we can fix what we need to but it’s going to be tricky. I really hope we can. I believe we could salvage a decent finish even if we rode it out ourselves the rest of the way,” Alfredo wrote.

3:52 p.m., Red flag: Jet dryers are out on the track. Rain has let up a bit.

3:40 p.m., Red flag: Drivers involved in the crash who are now listed as two laps down: Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch, Daniel Suárez, David Ragan, Ryan Newman, Matt DiBenedetto, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron and Jamie McMurray.

3:30 p.m., Lap 15: The red flag is out following a large crash involving Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and Ryan Newman, among others. The wreck started when Kyle Busch gave Christopher Bell a shove running in the top-four in the inside lane. Bell tapped the back of Almirola, who swerved into Bowman on the outside and collected 14 other cars behind them. Multiple drivers will retire from the race after that wreck. We’ll update you when we have an official tally.

During the caution, there was lightning within three miles of Daytona International Speedway, bringing out the red flag. There will be a 30-minute delay at least. Heavy rain starts pouring shortly after the red flag.

3:18 p.m, Lap 14: Harvick shoots to the front to lead the next laps after caution. He’s staying on the inside lane. Fox reports Bubba Wallace and Derrike Cope made contact before the last caution, and Wallace takes a long pit stop for his team to make adjustments. Further back, Ryan Newman leads a middle lane, followed by Joey Logano. The field is running three-wide.

3:09 p.m., Lap 4: Derrike Cope gets into the Turn 4 wall due to what appears to be a flat tire. Cope, 62, was scheduled to make his final Daytona 500 start, and although he got in four laps, he will be finished for the day. Pole-sitter Alex Bowman chose the outside lane to start the race, but Kevin Harvick on the inside pulled ahead just before the caution and is leading the race.

Pre-race

2:48 p.m. Opening ceremonies

Chaplain Juleun Johnson of AdventHealth delivers the invocation, and a group from the U.S. Armed Forces led by Sgt. Sam Allen performs the national anthem. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds conduct a six-jet flyover. Grammy-award winning artist and new Trackhouse Racing team owner will deliver the call to start engines as the grand marshal, and WWE superstar Sasha Banks will wave the green flag at 3:05 p.m.

2:30 p.m. Driver intros underway

Fans are filling in as drivers are announced. Ryan Newman gets a loud cheer before today’s race. Newman is making his return to the Daytona 500 after surving a violent crash on the last lap of last year’s race.

1:32 p.m. Wallace added to driver to fail pre-race technical inspection

The No. 23 Toyota driven by Bubba Wallace failed pre-race technical inspection three times, meaning Wallace will have to drop to the rear for the start of the Daytona 500. He will also have a crew member, his car chief Greg Emmer, ejected.

Inspection is still going on, so there could be other penalties issued or other cars joining the list of at least 10 teams dropping to the back at the start.

No. 23 crew chief Mike Wheeler said it was a rear alignment issue that caused the inspection failures. Wheeler said the team did a pit stop practice this morning to check the tires.

“I’m more embarrassed than anything,” Wheeler said.

1:45 p.m. Sunny skies over the speedway

Some clouds hang over Daytona International Speedway and there were sprinkles earlier this morning, but it’s sunny at the track. There’s a 60% of thunderstorms this afternoon, according to AccuWeather.com.

Who’s dropping to the rear?

Nine drivers are expected to drop to the rear at the start of the Daytona 500, including front-row starter William Byron. Damage to the cars during Thursday’s Duels forced seven teams to switch to backup cars. Drivers dropping to the rear are Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Kaz Grala, Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer and Ross Chastain. Mechanical work on cars for Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones are also reportedly sending them to the rear for the start. Teams are rolling through technical inspection ahead of the race.

The green flag is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. with WWE star Sasha Banks is serving as the honorary starter. She will wave the flag to start the race.

Daytona 500 schedule

• Daytona 500 Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. on FOX

• When: 2:30-6:30 p.m.

• How to watch/listen: FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

• Distance: 200 laps, 500 miles on the 2.5-mile tri-oval

• Stages: 65, 130, 200

• About the race: Sunday’s Daytona 500 opens the 2021 NASCAR season. Denny Hamlin won his second consecutive Daytona 500 last year (third overall) and is favored to win this year’s race, per BetMGM odds.

Daytona 500 starting order

* Open car, # rookie