Nascar – Earnhardt Jr at the end of the suspense at Daytona

The Daytona 500 was mainly contested at night since the terrible weather forced the organizers to interrupt the event for more than six hours. After leading a good quarter of the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr (Hendrick Motorsports) won for the second time this legendary race where his father lost his life in 2001. The Hendrick driver, already almost assured of competing in the Chase, took the best restart during the green-white-checkered flag to finally win in front of Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) who was on the verge of continuing his series of victories started last year at Miami-Homestead.

Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) placed third ahead of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson who placed two other Hendrick Chevrolets in the top five. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Roush Fenway Racing) took sixth position ahead of Matt Kenseth (Joe Gibbs Racing). Pole sitter Austin Dillon (Richard Childress Racing) finished eighth, achieving the same result as Danica Patrick last year, even though he was the cause of several accidents in the peloton. Greg Biffle (Roush Fenway Racing) and Casey Mears (Germain Racing) completed the top ten.

Discover the report of the Daytona 500 in issue 1949 of AUTOhebdo, available from 22 p.m. in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.