DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Ryan Blaney went to the bottom to pass Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric in turn three on lap 130 to win Stage Two of the 66th Daytona 500 on Monday night.
The Ford drivers finished ahead of Daniel Suarez in a Chevrolet followed by Kyle Busch’s No. 8 Chevy, Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet, Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota was fifth.
Positions 6-10 included William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet, Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota, Rickey Stenhouse in the No. 47 Chevrolet, A.J. Allmendinger in the No. 16 Chevrolet and Chris Buescher in the No. 17 Ford.
The top 10 drivers all scored Stage points for the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
Stage Two Overview
Busch had an issue when the driver’s side front wheel did not have a retaining nut attached during his pit stop following the stage break, forcing him to limp around the track and make another pit stop.
Kyle Larson led the field to the green to start Stage Two, but rookie driver Josh Berry passed the leader on the next lap. Larson was able to get it back nearly immediately.
Larson led the first three laps of the second stage before Daytona 500 polesitter Joey Logano passed for the lead on lap 72.
Two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, who went two laps down from damage to his Toyota in a multi-car crash on Lap 6, got one of laps back and was in position as the first car one lap down by lap 80.
That would last long as he would be three laps down by lap 94, running by himself without the aid of a draft.
Todd Gilliland took the lead on lap 93.
The pack caught Johnson’s Toyota on lap 97, sending him another lap down.
At the halfway point of the race – lap 100 – Gilliland was the leader head of Logano, Martin Truex and Justin Haley.
Tyler Reddick was fifth ahead of Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric.
Wallace briefly took the lead on Lap 108 before Kyle Busch moved into position on the next lap to become the leader.
On lap 11, a gaggle of cars hit pit road including Logano, Wallace and many others. Josh Berry spun on pit road, but it was a legal stop because he stopped in his pit box.
Ryan Preece entered the pits as the leader but was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Two laps later, a smaller group of cars led by Busch and defending Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse entered pit road.
The rest of the cars pitted one lap after that including Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain, among others.
Larson was 19th before the pit stop cycle and by the time it ended on Lap 116, he was the leader. But two laps later, 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric passed him for the lead bringing Cup Series champion teammate Ryan Blaney with him.
With 10 laps to go in the stage, the racing become much fiercer. Busch and Cindric traded leads before.
With one lap to go, Cindric was getting a push by Blaney on the inside before Blaney left Cindric dry to take the lead and win the Stage.
The final stage will conclude the 66th Daytona 500, schedule for 200 laps.
Chase Elliott opened his season with an impressive Stage One victory in Monday’s 66th Daytona 500, leading six Chevrolets across the line on lap 65.
Stage One Overview
Most of Stage One saw drivers running half-throttle to conserve fuel.
With two laps to go, the group finally got to racing each other and the Hendrick drivers zoomed past Busch to fight it out for the final lap of the stage.
The first big crash of the race came on Lap 6 when Brad Keselowski’s Ford ran into the back of John Hunter Nemechek, turning him into the infield tri-oval grass. The Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Ford was hit by Carson Hocevar, sliding up the track into the path of speeding cars. Others involved included Kaz Grala, two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon, and Ryan Preece.
“I didn’t really see anything. I was just going where I could go,” Hocevar said. “Just a bummer… bummer for my No. 77 Gainbridge / Zeigler Auto Group Chevy team. There’s a lot of people here from Gainbridge and Zeigler here, and I wanted to be able to put on a good showing. Just really disappointing to have our race end early.
“I had about 0.1 seconds, basically. It happened right in my lap. I tried my best not to slide across the grass, but obviously with two-plus days of rain, it’s going to be really slick. I just kept sliding. It felt like I was all alone sliding across the grass and just hoping that nobody hit me. It’s just unfortunate that was the case.”
Pit lane opened on lap nine and scrambled the field. Christopher Bell’s Toyota was in the lead ahead of Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Daniel Hemric.
The green flag waved to resume racing on lap 12 with Bell’s Toyota leading the way. By lap 25, it was still Bell ahead of Blaney’s Ford Mustang with Team Penske’s Joey Logano third. Hemric was fourth and Chase Elliott fifth.
Because of the timing of the first crash, it changed the strategy of the field by pitting earlier. In order to make it to the end of Stage One, the pace of the race slowed dramatically.
Blaney took the lead on lap 31 and the front group was able to successfully keep a slower pace to save fuel.
The Ford Mustangs in the lead group and Bell in a Toyota pulled onto pit road after 40 laps lead by the Team Penske cars. It was gas only for those cars.
That put 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell in front of Hamlin’s Toyota with 23 laps to go until the end of Stage One.
McDowell pitted on Lap47 and that put Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet in front with 17 to go. Busch’s Chevy was second ahead of Wallace’s Toyota and Daniel Suarez’s Chevrolet.
On lap 56, the Chevrolets pitted led by the leader, Elliott. It was a quick splash of fuel for the cars as they were just 10 laps from the end of Stage One.
The Toyotas pitted one lap later led by Wallace, Hamlin and Truex.
That put Noah Gragson’s Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in the lead ahead of Todd Gilliland’s Ford, Josh Berry’s Ford and Justin Haley’s Ford.
That group finally pitted on lap 60, turning the lead over to David Ragan’s No. 60 Ford. Preece, who was involved in the big crash on lap six, was second followed by Busch’s Chevrolet and William Byron’s Chevrolet.
Stage Two is next in Monday’s rain-rescheduled Daytona 500.