The Daytona 500 had its closest finish ever on Sunday, with Denny Hamlin winning the race over Martin Truex Jr. by inches for his first career victory in the race.
According to the official NASCAR standings, Hamlin finished in first place by ten-hundreds of a second at 0.010 in front of Truex. Hamlin was in fourth position in the final lap and was able to overtake Matt Kenseth and Truex to make it to the front line to win the race. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Hamlin is the first driver to win the race after leading at the halfway point since 1992. Truex said after the race to the media that winning the race is "the pinnacle of my career, for sure."
The race was the closest finish ever recorded at Daytona by NASCAR, who started electronic scoring in 1993. Hamlin was riding for team owner Joe Gibbs, who ended a long drought with the victory on Sunday. Hamlin led 95 laps during the race, but it was Kenseth who was in first place coming into the final lap, but he could not hold on for the victory.
The race had drama at the finish, but there also was some drama during the race as well. According to USA Today, Chris Buescher and Matt DiBenedetto got in a bad crash on lap 92. "That is exponentially the hardest hit I've ever taken," said Buescher to USA Today.
The final results had Hamlin, Truex and Kyle Busch in the top three, while Kevin harvick and Carol Edwards rounded out the top five. Joey Logano came in sixth place, while Kyle Larson, Regan Smith, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch finished in the top 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won Thursday's qualifying race, and while he led for 30 laps total, he ended up in a crash and finished in 36th place. Jimmie Johnson ended up finishing in 16th place after leading for 18 laps, while Kenseth ended up in 14th place.
