Austin Dillon Wins Daytona 500 Crashfest

Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, celebrates his victory

Tom Copland/HHR for Chevy Racing

It took Dale Earnhardt, Sr. 20 years to win the Daytona 500

Austin Dillon did it in five.

Nearly 20 years to the day that Earnhardt, Sr. scored his historic first win in the Daytona 500, Dillon pushed his way past Aric Almirola with half a lap to go, and drove to the victory in Sunday's 60^th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, bringing the iconic No. 3 back to Victory Lane at Daytona.

Darrell "Bubba" Wallace, Jr. finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.

Dillon – the grandson of Earnhardt, Sr.'s long-time car owner Richard Childress – collected his second-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in his 158^th-career start.

"I did what I had to do," Dillon said. "He (Almirola) was trying to block me and I just turned him. We had a run and I stayed in the gas. It's so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to victory lane. This one is for Dale Earnhardt and all those Earnhardt fans. We're going to keep kicking butt for the rest of the year."

A Daytona 500 victory had eluded Dale Earnhardt, Sr. for year – coming so close year after year only to lose out in the closing laps. When he finally took the checkered flag on his 20th try in 1998, Austin and his brother Ty Dillon were there in Victory Lane, posing with Earnhardt and the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

"It's incredible. You know, to come back 20 years later after Dale's great victory here, and to be able to celebrate 20 years later with my grandson in the No. 3 car is just a storybook tale," said Childress. "I couldn't be prouder of him, his race team. The Earnhardt family, I called them about running â€'â€' Kelly and Dale Jr. running the 3, and they supported us all the way.

"And for all the No. 3 fans that stuck with us and pulled for Austin, it's just – I'm speechless, I guess."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"] Dillon was an unlikely pick to win on Sunday, after flying under the radar for much of the race – finishing 19^th in the opening 60-lap stage and ninth in the second stage and setting up in the top 10 for the second-to-last restart with seven laps to go.

On the final restart in the overtime session, Dillon had moved up to fourth lined up behind on the outside behind Almirola.

Once the green flag waved, Hamlin and Almirola were side by side until Almirola broke out on his own and took the white flag as the leader.

As the field came around to the backstretch, Dillon made a strong push on the outside forcing Almirola to come up to block. Dillon locked onto Almirola's bumper and turned him going into turn three, then stayed in the gas to cross the line more than ten car-lenghts over Hamlin and Wallace.

Almirola was very diplomatic is his post-race comments, saying he and Dillon were just racing for the win.

"It was the last lap and we're all trying to win the Daytona 500," said Almirola. "It's the biggest race of the year and it's a career-changing race, so we were just racing really aggressively. I put every move I knew to try and stay in the lead and, unfortunately, I just wasn't able to hold on. He got to my back bumper and was pushing and just hooked me.

"(Dillon) was trying to win the Daytona 500 just like I was. I saw him come with the momentum and I pulled up to block and did exactly what I needed to do to try to win the Daytona 500. I wasn't gonna just let him have it. I'm just devastated, but this is just one race. It might be the biggest race and this one is gonna hurt for a while, but I think next week we'll have another shot."

Chase Elliott (9) spins, touching off a seven-car crash on lap 103

Wallace's runner-up showing was the best finish by an African-American driver since Wendell Scott went to victory lane in 1963 and the highest finish in the history of the Daytona 500.

Wallace and Hamlin actually crashed just past the start/finish line after Hamlin cut a right-front tire after contact with Wallace coming to the checkered flag. After the race, he shared an emotional hug with his mom and his sister before speaking with the media.

"I just try so hard to be successful at everything I do, and my family pushes me each and every day, and they might not know it – but I just want to make them proud," said an emotional Wallace. "Second is horrible, but it's a good day.

"Just an incredible experience for me to be able to be here for my first Daytona 500. He (Denny Hamlin) says I cut his tire down. We had some momentum and we beat him, so it's all good."

Sunday's season-opening event kicked off with youngster Alex Bowman and 2016 Daytona 500 winner Hamlin leading the field to the green flag.

The race ran nearly problem until the end of the first segment, when Daniel Suarez got out of shape while trying to block Ryan Blaney, triggering a nine-car crash that took out Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, and Ty Dillon.

Ryan Blaney (12) led a race-high 118 laps

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Kurt Busch won opening stage, followed by Bowman, Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Martin Truex, Jr.

The second 60-lap segment brought more carnage when Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski got together finishing for second behind race leader Blaney, resulting in another melee that claimed both Elliott and Keselowski, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick in her final NASCAR race.

Ryan Blaney would go on to win stage two, and led the field to the green flag for the final 80-lap segment.

Blaney would lead 67 of the next 70 laps as the field stayed single file with no one willing to step out of line with nothing to gain.

Any hopes the race would go green to the finish we dashed when William Byron blew a tire and spun with nine laps to go to set up a restart.

Trying to work his way past Kurt Busch, Blaney got in the back of Busch's Ford and turned him in front of the entire field, touching off the biggest wreck of the day – collecting 12 cars including Brendan Gaughan and Matt DiBenedetto, who were on their way to career-best finishes.

Kyle Busch managed to limp his battered Toyota Camry to a 25^th-place finish, seven laps down, after suffering two cut tires, a spin and a penalty on pit road.

Quotes

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1

Dillon celebrates

Tom Copland/HHR for Chevy Racing

ON EMOTIONS:
"Right now I just want to thank the good Lord above. I did what I had to do there at the end. I hate it for the No. 10 (Aric Almirola) guys. We had a run, and I stayed in the gas. It is what it is here at Daytona. This is so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to Victory Lane 20 years ago. This one is for Dale Earnhardt, Sr. and all those Sr. fans. I love you guys. We are going to keep kicking butt the rest of the year!"

DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL IN YOUR CAR?
"I met a fan and actually he had no favorite driver. I told him I would give him my hat if I was his favorite driver. Well I gave him the hat. The next day he saw me in the infield and said here is a lucky penny I found heads-up and I said ‘Man, we have to put this in the car.' We put it in the car and here we are in Victory Lane."

ON THE FINISH:
"I knew we were in a good spot. And I have to thank Darrell Wallace, Jr., he did a great job. Finishing one-two with ECR engines. What a day. Thanks Darrell for that push. I had to make it happen in the end."

ON WHAT IT MEANS TO HIS GRANDPA:
"I said my first win I couldn't beat it, but this does. My Grandfather has done everything for me. Everybody knows it. There is a lot of pressure on me to preform because I have had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure. The same with the No 3. There is a lot of pressure behind that. But I'm willing to take that and go with it. I'm just thankful for all the people that support us along the way. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his family for letting us bring this number back. It comes full circle. I just can't thank the Lord enough for this opportunity."

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