Ryan Reed A First Time Winner at Daytona
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| Ryan Reed |
Ryan Reed survived a wild, wreck-filled race and topped a final five-lap dash to the finish to win his first career NASCAR victory in Saturday’s season-opening Alert Today Florida 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Reed passed Brad Keselowski in the final turn of the last lap and held off his teammate Chris Buescher to take the checkered flag, earning Roush Fenway Racing their first ever Daytona victory.
The race was marred by two multi-car crashes that necessitated two red flags and eliminated many of the top competitors including Kyle Busch, who was transported to a local hospital complaining of leg pain and will miss Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Reed was running in second place behind Keselowski when the field came to the green flag for the final five-lap dash to the finish but found himself shuffled out of position as Buescher pushed Kyle Larson to the front.
Larson and Keselowski would battle it out for the top spot for the next four laps until Larson spun coming out of the tri-oval on the white-flag lap, leaving Keselowski all alone out front.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Now running second, Reed hooked back up with Buescher and slipped under Keselowski on the backstretch to take the lead for the final time, facing a final challenge from Buescher as they crossed the stripe.
Ty Dillon was third, followed by Austin Dillon and Keselowski.
Reed’s victory was his best finish since placing fourth in the XFINITY Series race at Daytona last July and is the first for team owner Jack Roush in 75 races Daytona.
“Four years ago I was diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes and was told I would never drive a race car again. And now I am standing in victory lane at Daytona with Roush Fenway," said the 21-year-old Reed. “Oh, my God, we won Daytona. This hasn’t sunk in yet."
“We got shuffled back with three to go, and I was just trying to salvage a good finish. When a wreck happened on last lap, we got a massive run."
In 2011, Reed was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and was told racing would be too dangerous for someone with his condition.
Reed bucked the doctor’s opinions and continued racing, wearing sensors that monitor is blood sugar and relays that information back to him team, who are prepared to inject him with insulin if necessary.
Reed partnered with the American Diabetes Association who now sponsors his car through their Drive to Stop Diabetes program.
“This win is not only for me and my family, but every kid who gets diagnosed with diabetes or anything that says you can't do something," said Reed. “Just go and there and overcome it and do it and win and do the best you can."
After 94 laps of incident-free racing, the Big One broke out when rookie Daniel Suarez got turned off the bumper of Kyle Larson coming off turn four and got into the rear of the no. 7 Chevrolet of Regan Smith, which flipped over completely before landing on its wheels in the infield grass. Defending XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott also got damage, as did Brendan Gaughan and polesitter Austin Dillon.
NASCAR put out the red flag for nearly 25 minutes while the mess was cleaned up. Back under green just five laps later, the second big crash of the afternoon broke out when Kyle Busch bumped Eric Jones coming through the tri-oval, triggering a 10-car crash that sent Busch across the inside grass and head on into a part of the inside wall not protected by a SAFER barrier.
Busch emerged from his destroyed Toyota Camry under his own power and was then placed on a stretcher and taken to Halifax Medical Center with a possible leg injury.
Another 11 minutes red flag followed before the field finally went back under green with just five laps to go.
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Keselowski looked to have the strongest Ford among the leaders, but once he was out in front by himself after Larson’s crash, he was a sitting duck.
“I definitely had too big of a lead," said Keselowski. “There’s only so much you can block and the run that the 16 had was just more than I could block without wrecking everybody, so that’s just part of it I guess."
Buescher’s runner-up finish was his career best at Daytona, where he missed out on the season-opening event in 2014.
“We're just happy to be running this race this year. After last year going the way it did, we're proud that we were in it. Just trying to stay out of trouble, there was a lot of it. We barely got out of it," said Buescher. “Just happy we could get out of it. Happy for Ryan (Reed) to get his first win. Knowing the feeling after last year of finally getting one off your back."
David Starr finished sixth, followed by Aric Almirola, Larson and Ross Chastain. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished after taking starting in the back of the field with a Past Champions provisional and then going a lap down following a pit road penalty.
Defending series champion Chase Elliott was credited with a 28th-place finish after recording his first-career DNF in the XFINITY Series.
Results
| POS. | # | Driver | Start | Laps | Led | Status |
| 1 | 16 | Ryan Reed | 8 | 120 | 14 | Running |
| 2 | 60 | Chris Buescher | 10 | 120 | 12 | Running |
| 3 | 3 | Ty Dillon | 34 | 120 | 16 | Running |
| 4 | 33 | Austin Dillon | 1 | 120 | 1 | Running |
| 5 | 22 | Brad Keselowski | 14 | 120 | 13 | Running |
| 6 | 44 | David Starr | 18 | 120 | 0 | Running |
| 7 | 98 | Aric Almirola | 5 | 120 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 27 | 120 | 4 | Running |
| 9 | 4 | Ross Chastain | 21 | 120 | 0 | Running |
| 10 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 40 | 119 | 0 | Running |
| 11 | 43 | Dakoda Armstrong | 7 | 119 | 0 | Running |
| 12 | 6 | Darrell Wallace Jr | 28 | 119 | 18 | Running |
| 13 | 26 | Mike Wallace | 31 | 119 | 0 | Running |
| 14 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 23 | 118 | 0 | Running |
| 15 | 90 | Mario Gosselin | 37 | 118 | 0 | Running |
| 16 | 55 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 13 | 118 | 0 | Running |
| 17 | 24 | Eric McClure | 25 | 116 | 0 | Running |
| 18 | 20 | Erik Jones | 6 | 116 | 0 | Running |
| 19 | 1 | Elliott Sadler | 11 | 116 | 0 | Running |
| 20 | 8 | Blake Koch | 38 | 115 | 0 | Running |
| 21 | 13 | Chris Cockrum | 20 | 115 | 0 | Running |
| 22 | 40 | Derek White | 33 | 115 | 0 | Running |
| 23 | 97 | Josh Reaume | 24 | 115 | 0 | Running |
| 24 | 74 | Mike Harmon | 19 | 114 | 0 | Running |
| 25 | 2 | Brian Scott | 15 | 112 | 0 | Accident |
| 26 | 54 | Kyle Busch | 32 | 111 | 27 | Accident |
| 27 | 28 | J.J. Yeley | 9 | 111 | 0 | Accident |
| 28 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 35 | 111 | 0 | Accident |
| 29 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | 4 | 110 | 0 | Accident |
| 30 | 14 | Cale Conley | 17 | 110 | 0 | Accident |
| 31 | 01 | Landon Cassill | 39 | 108 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 52 | Joey Gase | 26 | 107 | 0 | Running |
| 33 | 25 | John Wes Townley | 29 | 106 | 0 | Running |
| 34 | 29 | Justin Marks | 2 | 93 | 0 | Accident |
| 35 | 7 | Regan Smith | 12 | 93 | 15 | Accident |
| 36 | 84 | Chad Boat | 3 | 92 | 0 | Accident |
| 37 | 10 | Scott Lagasse Jr | 22 | 92 | 0 | Accident |
| 38 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | 16 | 92 | 0 | Accident |
| 39 | 18 | Daniel Suarez | 36 | 91 | 0 | Accident |
| 40 | 92 | Dexter Bean | 30 | 5 | 0 | Fuel Pump |