Joey Logano Wins Daytona 500
Joey Logano charged out of a restart with three laps to go and drove to victory at the 2015 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida on Sunday afternoon. Logano held off second-place finisher Kevin Harvick as a final lap wreck ended the 57th running of the "Great American Race."
After a fairly mundane first 150 laps, the intensity of the race picked up late as a cluster of drivers challenged each other for the lead. Logano edged ahead of the field with 19 laps left only to have Justin Allgaier’s crash force a restart with three laps remaining. Logano then out-sprinted Harvick and 2014 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win.
Denny Hamlin finished fourth, and Jimmie Johnson placed fifth. Watch the final laps of the race in the video above.
The victory at the legendary 2.5 mile track was Logano’s first in NASCAR’s marquis race, which traditionally starts the stock car racing season every February.
Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon led a field-high 87 laps before crashing on the final lap. Sunday’s race was possibly the last Daytona 500 for the longtime NASCAR star who announced before the season that 2015 would be his last year racing a full-time schedule.