Toyota Dominates as Hamlin Wins Closest Daytona 500 Ever

Denny Hamlin raced his Toyota Camry from fourth to first in the final two turns to beat Martin Truex Jr. by 0.01 of a second to win Sunday’s Daytona 500, marking the closest finish in the 58-year history of the historic race.

It was the first Daytona 500 victory for Toyota, which had four of the top five finishers this year. In addition to Hamlin and Truex, Kyle Busch (3rd) and Carl Edwards (5th) also drove Camrys. So did Matt Kenseth, who led the field for 40 straight laps going into the final one.

The top Chevrolet driver was Kevin Harvick, who piloted his SS race car to fourth place. Sixth-place finisher Joey Logano was the highest-ranked Ford Fusion driver.

As part of Joe Gibbs Racing, four of the top five Toyota drivers—Truex of Furniture Row Racing was the lone exception—stuck close together for most of the race. Hamlin led  95 of the race’s 200 laps, followed by Kenseth (40) and Busch (19), who is the reigning Sprint Cup season champion.

Kenseth seemingly had the race won, pacing the field down the backstretch on the final lap. But Hamlin made his move as the leaders entered Turn 3, going to the outside to pass Busch into third behind Kenseth and Truex. Then Hamlin got a push from Harvick’s car and cut to the center as Kenseth tried to block him, which caused Kenseth’s car to slide and fall behind the pack as he fought to regain control.

As they raced to the finish line, Hamlin inched past Truex at the last moment to win by less than one foot. The move was only the fourth pass for the lead during the entire race that didn't happen under a yellow flag or as a result of green-flag pit stops.

Pole-winner Chase Elliott crashed his Chevy on lap 20. He eventually returned to finish 37th out of 40 cars. He crossed the finish line one spot behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., a pre-race favorite who led 15 laps before crashing on lap 170.