Several crashes forced drivers out of the race.
Austin Dillon put the No. 3 back in victory lane at Daytona International Speedway. Dillon won in the car number made famous by Dale Earnhardt and won 17 years to the day that the Hall of the Fame driver was killed in a last-lap accident at NASCAR’s famed track.
Dillon also won in the 3 two decades after Earnhardt’s lone victory in the Daytona 500.
„It was so awesome to take the 3 car back to victory lane,“ Dillon said. „This is for Dale Earnhardt Sr. and all those Senior fans.“
Dillon even replicated the slide Earnhardt did in 1998 and did a burnout in the shape of a 3 in the infield grass.
Darrell Wallace Jr. finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.
Several crashes forced drivers out of the race.
Ryan Blaney spun defending race winner Kurt Busch with two laps to go in regulation, settling off a 12-car melee that included several top contenders.
Pole-sitter Alex Bowman, defending series champion Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Darrell Wallace Jr., Brendan Gaughan, AJ Allmendinger, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Matt DiBenedetto were also caught up in the crash.
The bigger story was all the contenders knocked out before the final stage.
Former series champions Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson were out. So was Danica Patrick, whose NASCAR finale ended prematurely.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones also were knocked out in crashes.
It was an even worse showing for Hendrick Motorsports, which lost Johnson and Chase Elliott. Hendrick teammate and rookie William Byron was also involved in a crash.
The Associated Press contributed.
