Michael McDowell wins 2021 Daytona 500 - Race Results

Nigel Cook/ News-Journal

     After a wild race, complete with rain delays and multi car wrecks, Michael McDowell won the 2021 Daytona 509.

The “Great American Race” at Daytona International Speedway began as scheduled, with blue skies, after worries of rain. On lap 3 of the race NASCAR paid tribute to the late great Dale Earnhardt Sr.. Towards the end of lap 3 Derrike Cope hit the wall, and brought out a caution, ending Cope’s day especially early. 

After a restart the race went green for 11 more laps, until on lap 14 Christopher Bell in the No. 20 got into the rear of the Aric Almirola in the No. 10. Almirola then spun into the No. 48 of Alex Bowman, which brought out the caution, as the wreck collected 16 cars. Almirola, Bowman, Blaney, Jones, Suárez, Newman, Alfredo, Ragan, DiBenedetto, and Buescher would all end their days early, and would not finish the race.

Shortly after this wreck, the red flag came out for lightning and rain. The red flag would stay out for 5 hours and 40 minutes. 

When the race returned to green we saw Denny Hamlin win stage 1 and stage 2, with other Toyota’s like the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch, and the No. 20 of Christopher Bell towards the front. Drivers like Austin Dillon in the No. 3, Kyle Larson in the No. 5, Kevin Harvick in the No. 4, and the No. 37 of Ryan Preece also performed well throughout the race.

In today’s race the Toyota’s had some real speed, and performed well in stage 1 and 2, though towards the end of the Daytona 500 pit strategy brought some of the Fords to the front of the pack. Joey Logano led the final led 27 laps of the race until in a last lap series of events Logano, Keselowski, and Ky. Busch wound up in a flame filled wreck, and they would not finish the race. Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, and Chase Elliott squeezed through the wrecking cars to race to the caution, with McDowell leading when the caution came out. This left Michael McDowell as the winner of the 2021 Daytona 500, an amazing accomplishment for the driver who has been searching for this win for years now. 

This was most definitely a race filled with excitement, and ever changing weather conditions. This finish was in no way what I expected, and far from predictable, but really, what Daytona 500s are?!?

The following are the compete race results: 

1. Michael McDowell- No. 34

2. Chase Elliot- No. 9

3. Austin Dillon- No. 3

4. Kevin Harvick- No. 4

5. Denny Hamlin- No. 11

6. Ryan Preece- No. 37

7. Ross Chastain- No. 42

8. Jamie McMurray- No. 77

9. Corey LaJoie- No. 7

10. Kyle Larson- No. 5

11. Cole Custer- No. 41

12. Joey Logano- No. 22 - DNF

13. Brad Keselowski- No. 2 - DNF

14. Kyle Busch- No. 18 - DNF

15. Austin Cindric- No. 33 - DNF

16. Christopher Bell- No. 20

17. Bubba Wallace- No. 23 - DNF

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- No. 47 

19. Chase Briscoe- No. 14 

20. Joey Gase- No. 53

21. Cody Ware- No. 51

22. Kurt Busch- No. 1

23. B.J. McLeod- No. 78

24. Josh Biliki- No. 52

25. Martin Truex Jr.- No. 19

26. William Byron- No. 24

27. Tyler Reddick- No. 8

28. Kaz Grala- No. 16 - DNF

29. Quin Houff- No. 00 - DNF

30. Ryan Blaney- No. 12 - DNF 

31. Chris Buescher- No. 17 - DNF

32. Anthony Alfredo- No. 38 - DNF

33. Matt DiBenedetto- No. 21 - DNF 

34. Aric Almirola- No. 10 - DNF

35. Alex Bowman- No. 48 - DNF

36. Daniel Suárez- No. 99 - DNF

37. David Ragan- No. 36 - DNF 

38. Ryan Newman- No. 6 - DNF 

39. Erik Jones- No. 43 - DNF 

40. Derrike Cope- No. 15 - DNF