Logano wins Daytona 500

Joey Logano conquered a field of 43 drivers this afternoon to capture the Harley J. Earl Trophy in the 57th running of the Daytona 500. Logano was able to dismantle the 3 car brigade from Hendrick Motorsports that dominated most of the afternoon between drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Logano, who was among our picks at +1750 for the Daytona 500, had one of the strongest cars throughout the afternoon consistently staying inside the top 5. The young 24 year old whose career has been revived with the #22 car at Team Penske held off a strong charge from Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr on a green-white-checker restart to pull out the victory thanks in part to a caution that flew halfway through the final lap due to a multi car pileup on the backstretch. While Logano may have stolen the headlines, the racing action at Daytona International Speedway was spectacular in the closing laps of the Great American Race.

During the final 20 or more laps, the majority of the field was nose to tail in a 3 wide group of cars. While 3 wide racing is not uncommon at Daytona, it is pretty rare to see 3 wide racing for the lead in consecutive laps. However, the best drivers in the world put on a spectacular display of talent as they danced 3 wide at over 200 mph for most of the closing laps of the race. Fresh off the most exciting Chase for the Sprint Cup in NASCAR history in 2014, NASCAR picked up right where they left off with a very exciting race that will certainly build even more momentum towards the 2015 season.

For Logano, the victory in today’s Daytona 500 officially put his career back on the map. Logano was heavily hyped in his first few years in the Sprint Cup Series but never produced much success during his tenure in the #20 car at Joe Gibbs Racing. However, Logano rebounded with a strong season in 2014 that resulted in 5 victories. Today’s win at Daytona solidified Logano’s emergence towards NASCAR’s elite in the Sprint Cup Series. At 24 year’s old, it is safe to say Logano has plenty of time left to fulfill the hype that many people said he failed to deliver during his first few seasons in the sport. For NASCAR, Sunday’s Daytona 500 just put an exclamation point on what is expected to be yet another very competitive and exciting season. Next week all 3 racing series will be in action again at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Daytona 500 Results: