Date: 2-19-2023.

Name of the race: Daytona 500.

Track: Daytona International Speedway.

Laps: 200.

Pole winner: Alex Bowman.

Outside pole: Kyle Larson.

Stage 1 winner: Brad Keselowski.

Stage 2 winner: Ross Chastain.

Stage 3 winner (won the race): Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Top 5: Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, and Alex Bowman. 

FYI: The Daytona 500! The biggest race of NASCAR’s top division, the Cup Series. NASCAR is unique in that they run their most prestigious race at the beginning of the year, kicking off the points paying race season on the 2.5 mile “world center of racing”. With Daytona’s “Speedweeks” being condensed down to less than a week, on track action began for the event on Wednesday night with qualifying, and into the next day with the Daytona Duels to set the stage of who would start the race, and where they would be starting. Friday night’s truck race and Saturday’s ARCA and Xfinity series races came and went, and it was finally time for Sunday’s big show! The 2023 season was about to kick off, with every notable name present, a few new ones and to top it all off, a past champion of the 500, and living legend getting behind the wheel of a stock car for the first time since 2020. Now part owner of the former Petty/GMS team, 7-time NASCAR cup series champion and 2006 and 2013 Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, after a brief stint in Indycar, would be returning behind the wheel on a part-time schedule for the 2023 driving the #84 Chevrolet Camaro for the rebranded Legacy Motor Club, with his teammates Erik Jones in the legendary #43 and Rookie of the year contender Noah Gragson piloting the #42 full time in 2023. Ty Gibbs, last year's Xfinity series champion, would be driving full time for Grandfather Joe Gibbs in the #54 Camry, replacing and retiring the iconic #18 for the foreseeable future. Speaking of Toyota, 23XI would be running a 3rd car for the 500 this year. In addition to Bubba Wallace in the #23 Toyota Camry and Tyler Reddick, replacing Kurt Busch in the #45, Nitro Circus founder and 11 time X-Games gold medal Winner Travis Pastrana, would be piloting a cup car for the first time in his NASCAR career, having made truck and Xfinity starts in the past. 2022 Champion and 2015 Daytona 500 winner, Joey Logano, would be rolling off the grid in 3rd, behind Kyle Larson in 2nd and Alex Bowman with the pole position, making this the 16th time Hendrick motorsports has claimed a Daytona 500 pole, and Bowman’s 6th consecutive 500 front row start. Kyle Busch would attempt this year's 500 behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress after signing with him for the 2023 season midway through last year. With RCR’s Superspeedway Superiority in years past, this would be Busch’s best shot yet to win that elusive 500 he had been missing out on for years, meanwhile Kevin Harvick would be making his final attempt at a 500 victory, after winning it back in 2007 with RCR, 6 years to the date after the death of the legend Dale Earnhardt, at the same track, in the same car. Other notable drivers still seeking their first 500 victory where 2017 Champion Martin Truex Jr, who went winless in ‘22, 2020 Champ Chase Elliott, 2021 Champion Kyle Larson, 2012 Champion Brad Keselowski who would be starting his second year at RFK, and Penske Driver Ryan Blaney, who despite winning the All-Star race last year, also went winless for the remainder of the ‘22 season. It was finally time, pre-race festivities had ended, Breland sang the National Anthem, past Daytona Champions gave the command, and the green flag would finally drop. The 65th Daytona 500 was under way! Immediately, HMS would flex some muscle and lead the race as the field behind them would shuffle about and stay as a pack for some time. Joey Logano with some drafting help from behind, would take the lead. Last year’s runner up finisher Bubba Wallace, would get a shove to the lead soon afterwards, but wouldn’t hold onto it for long as Toyota teammate Truex Jr and Wallace’s car owner Denny Hamlin would do some bump drafting and shove Bubba into the fence and out of the lead. Pit stops would commence and eventually, after some single file racing, Brad Keselowski would win stage 1 of the race. The sun would start to set over Daytona Beach as the second stage drew on. While racing in the middle of the pack, Kevin Harvick would give Reddick a bump and shove him into Ryan Blaney, setting off the first big one, and taking out Elliott, Erik Jones and Reddick in the process. Melon Man Ross Chastain would go on to win stage 2 of the great American Race as he and the rest of the field prepared for the final 80 lap stage of the night. The last stage of the race amplified the whole field, as everyone would start to make daring moves in an attempt to make it toward the front. On lap 182, Michael McDowell would make contact with Ryan Preece in the 41 Ford Mustang, and would collect Harvick, Gibbs, Johnson and others, bringing out the yellow again. In the final laps, Kyle Busch would be leading the race closer and closer to the 500 mile mark. Victory looked to be in reach for the 2-time past cup champion. It was looking more and more like it was finally going to be his turn to hoist the Harley J Earl trophy, when suddenly, in true Daytona fashion, disaster struck. After a single car spin with 2 to go by Daniel Suarez in the #99 Camaro, the race went into an overtime finish, and on lap 203, Joey Logano would retake the lead from the former Candy Man. To make matters worse, Austin Dillon, Richard Childress’s grandson and Busch’s new teammate, would get a shot from behind from William Byron in his #24 Camaro, spinning Dillon’s iconic #3, and caused a 13-car wreck. Minutes later, the field would re-rack for a second overtime finish, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the number 47 Camaro for JTG Daughtery racing in contention to win, with Kyle Larson beside him and on lap 212, after the field had taken the white flag, another wreck occurred with Stenhouse in the lead, making him the 2023 Daytona 500 Champion! The race lasted 530 laps, making it the longest 500 in history. The 2023 NASCAR season is well underway now, and as we leave Daytona behind, we now look ahead to the final race at the old Fontana 2-mile speedway, as next year it will be reconfigured to a short track design going forward. See y’all in Cali!

Fun fact about the driver who won: Ricky began his racing career at the age of six where he raced karts and earned forty-seven wins (his car number, how funny!) and also earned ninety podium finishes by the time he made his way up to sprint car racing in 2003. 

Fun fact about the track: The track is known as one of the largest outdoor stadiums located in the United States, which has eleven social areas that measure to the size of a football field.

Fun fact about Florida: The state of Florida has 7,700 lakes and also has the largest coastline in the continental United States. 

Next race: Auto Club Speedway on 2-26-2023 (Sunday afternoon).