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Daytona 500

Kurt Busch wins crash-marred Daytona 500 with last-lap pass

Heather Tucker
USA TODAY Sports
Kurt Busch celebrates winning the 2017 Daytona 500.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Highlights from the 59th running of the Daytona 500, Sunday at Daytona International Speedway:

WINNER: Two years ago at Daytona International Speedway, Kurt Busch was at one of the lowest points in his career, perhaps his life. On Sunday, he celebrated one of the greatest moments of his NASCAR career by winning the Daytona 500 with a thrilling last-lap pass.

Busch won the Super Bowl of the sport in his 17th try and also gave former teammate and team co-owner Tony Stewart his first Daytona 500 win. Stewart, who retired last year, went 0-for-17 in the event.

"The more it becomes unpredictable at Daytona, the more predictable it becomes in its unpredictability," Busch opined in victory lane.

"The more I run this race, the more I've learned to throw caution to the wind and let it rip," said Busch, who finished second in the Daytona 500 on three occasions before finally tasting victory. "The performace of this team has been incredible. My rearview mirror fell off with 30 to go, and I knew I had to drive defensively. I couldn't even see the cars behind me, just heard my spotter in my ear, once we made that pass. It's just unbelievable to have all this teamwork to get us in victory lane."

In 2015, Busch was suspended by NASCAR two days before the Daytona 500 over his possible involvement in a domestic abuse incident with his then-girlfriend. No criminal charges were filed, and Busch was reinstated three races later.

This season, nine days before the biggest race of the season, Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, was sued by his former agent for more than $1.4 million for allegedly failing to pay fees.

On Sunday, all that adversity went out the window.

Weaving his way to the lead in a wild finish that saw other contenders run out of gas on the last lap, Busch, who got married in the offseason, brought NASCAR’s new Cup Series sponsor — Monster Energy — more attention since Busch’s primary sponsor on the No. 41 Ford also is Monster.

Pole-sitter Chase Elliott, who was trying to join father Bill as a Daytona 500 champion, ran out of gas and left the track without speaking to media. Kyle Larson, Martin Treux Jr. and Paul Menard, all in the mix late, also ran out of fuel.

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Ryan Blaney finished second, AJ Allmendinger third, Aric Almirola fourth and Menard fifth. Joey Logano overcame a loose wheel very early in the race to come home sixth, Kasey Kahne finished seventh, Michael Waltrip, running in his 30th and final Daytona 500, was eighth, Matt DiBenedetto ninth and Trevor Bayne 10th.

Busch gave Stewart and co-owner Gene Haas the first Daytona 500 win for the four-car team, which switched from Chevrolet to Ford in the offseason. Teammates Harvick, Danica Patrick and Clint Bowyer also showed speed at various points of the race.

“I ran this damn race (17) years and couldn’t win it,” Stewart said. “Finally won it as an owner. What an awesome job those last couple laps. It’s probably the most patient race I’ve ever watched Kurt Busch run.”

In victory lane, Stewart, crew chief Tony Gibson — who was crying atop the pit box as Busch did burnouts on the 2.5-mile track’s trioval — crew members and fellow drivers — including Almirola, who drives a Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, pressed in close to share in the moment.

PHOTOS: Kurt Busch through the years

UPSETS: If drivers continue to be this aggressive for stage wins and top-10 finishes — the top 10 at the end of Stage 1 and Stage 2 are awarded points — get ready for some different names in victory lane. Several big names were collected Sunday, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was making his return to the sport after missing the last half of 2016 with another concussion. Two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, two-time winner Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Patrick also were collected. Granted, this was a restrictor-plate race, where drafting and bumping come into play. But every point counts in this new system and drivers may have been pushing harder at times to make a move. Busch and Earnhardt were collected in a wreck when Busch's tire went flat.

STAGE 2 (Laps 61-120): Harvick won the second stage. Earnhardt and Elliott Sadler jockeyed for the front and Earnhardt was leading the pack by Lap 100. Busch lost it between Turns 3 and 4 when a tire went down. He collected Earnhardt, whose right front was damaged when he briefly went up over Busch’s car.

PHOTOS: Best of the 2017 Daytona 500

RAIN ON TOYOTA PARADE: Kyle Busch was the early leader of the Joe Gibbs Racing contingent, but the team that looked dominant in qualifying races and practices took a heavy blow in Stage 2, when Busch’s flat tire also collected Kenseth and Erik Jones, who drives for fellow Toyota team Furniture Row Racing.

STAGE 1 (First 60 laps): Kyle Busch won the opening stage of the Cup season, pulling ahead of Ryan Blaney to capture 10 regular-season points and one bonus point, which will carry over into the 10-race playoffs, should Busch qualify.

NEW RULES: The days of patching your car together on multiple pit stops and going back out into the fray are done, at least for now. As wreck after wreck collected big names and former Daytona 500 winners, fans reacted with ‘Yeah!’ or ‘Oh no!’ as their favorite drivers went behind the wall. And under a new rule to prevent cars with too much damage from returning to the track to shed more debris, now cars that cannot be repaired in a five-minute window on pit road head to the garage. Fifteen cars were unable to finish.

Follow Tucker on Twitter @HeatherR_Tucker

DAYTONA 500 RESULTS

1. (8) Kurt Busch, Ford, 200 laps, 0 rating, 48 points.

2. (36) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, 0, 44.

3. (38) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 39.

4. (13) Aric Almirola, Ford, 200, 0, 33.

5. (33) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 32.

6. (15) Joey Logano, Ford, 200, 0, 40.

7. (26) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 30.

8. (30) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 200, 0, 29.

9. (25) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 200, 0, 28.

10. (11) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 200, 0, 27.

11. (39) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 0.

12. (16) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 33.

13. (35) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 200, 0, 24.

14. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 23.

15. (22) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 22.

16. (27) Landon Cassill, Ford, 199, 0, 21.

17. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 199, 0, 23.

18. (17) Cole Whitt, Ford, 199, 0, 19.

19. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 199, 0, 18.

20. (40) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 199, 0, 0.

21. (14) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 198, 0, 18.

22. (5) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 197, 0, 34.

23. (29) Joey Gase, Toyota, 196, 0, 0.

24. (31) Corey Lajoie, Toyota, 193, 0, 13.

25. (20) David Ragan, Ford, 188, 0, 12.

26. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, accident, 145, 0, 11.

27. (7) Brad Keselowski, Ford, accident, 143, 0, 24.

28. (3) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, accident, 141, 0, 13.

29. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, accident, 141, 0, 8.

30. (18) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, accident, 140, 0, 7.

31. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, accident, 133, 0, 6.

32. (6) Clint Bowyer, Ford, accident, 128, 0, 9.

33. (12) Danica Patrick, Ford, accident, 128, 0, 11.

34. (24) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, accident, 127, 0, 5.

35. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, accident, 127, 0, 2.

36. (28) D.J. Kennington, Toyota, accident, 127, 0, 1.

37. (2) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, accident, 106, 0, 7.

38. (21) Kyle Busch, Toyota, accident, 103, 0, 11.

39. (34) Erik Jones, Toyota, accident, 103, 0, 1.

40. (9) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, accident, 103, 0, 1.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 142.891 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 29 minutes, 31 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.228 seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 40 laps.

Lead Changes: 37 among 18 drivers.

Lap Leaders: C.Elliott 1-5; J.McMurray 6-18; K.Harvick 19-22; C.Elliott 23-24; K.Harvick 25-29; B.Keselowski 30-31; K.Larson 32; K.Harvick 33-41; Ky.Busch 42; M.Truex 43; Ky.Busch 44-48; R.Blaney 49-50; Ky.Busch 51-62; A.Allmendinger 63-64; K.Larson 65-68; K.Harvick 69-72; K.Larson 73; K.Harvick 74-89; J.Johnson 90-96; D.Earnhardt 97-104; E.Sadler 105-109; K.Harvick 110-121; J.Logano 122; K.Larson 123-125; C.Elliott 126; K.Kahne 127; C.Elliott 128-135; K.Kahne 136-141; A.Dillon 142-148; J.Logano 149-151; C.Whitt 152-154; A.Almirola 155-156; K.Larson 157-162; J.Logano 163-174; C.Elliott 175-197; M.Truex 198; K.Larson 199; Ku.Busch 200

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Harvick, 6 times for 44 laps; C.Elliott, 5 times for 34 laps; Ky.Busch, 3 times for 15 laps; J.Logano, 3 times for 13 laps; J.McMurray, 1 time for 12 laps; K.Larson, 6 times for 10 laps; D.Earnhardt, 1 time for 7 laps; A.Dillon, 1 time for 6 laps; J.Johnson, 1 time for 6 laps; K.Kahne, 2 times for 5 laps; E.Sadler, 1 time for 4 laps; C.Whitt, 1 time for 2 laps; A.Allmendinger, 1 time for 1 lap; A.Almirola, 1 time for 1 lap; R.Blaney, 1 time for 1 lap; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 1 lap; M.Truex, 2 times for 0 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 0 laps.

Segment wins: Kyle Busch, Stage 1; Kevin Harvick, Stage 2.

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