DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch went for a spin on Lap 63 during Sunday’s largest wreck, and it later managed to cross the finish line at Daytona International Speedway on Lap 201 in sixth place.
Busch was one of the eight drivers involved in the Stage 1 conclusion crash that took half out of contention for the Daytona 500 victory. His car was clipped by those of William Byron, Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin — all of whom ultimately exited prematurely because of their contact. Ross Chastain was the fourth DNF.
“It definitely slowed us down a little bit,” Busch said. “Any time you get damage, it’s not optimum, but otherwise, we were able to hang in the draft well and race around some of the other guys that were fast. But there were definitely guys that were faster than us and they were noticeable.”
DAYTONA 500: Race results | Austin Cindric wins as a rookie
Most notably would have to be Austin Cindric, who won as a rookie. Bubba Wallace came in second. Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola completed the top five before Busch slid into the results.
Busch was 13th in Stage 1 and 14th in Stage 2. He averaged an 11.38 running position.
The two-time champion did lead four times for a total of 28 circuits. He now boasts 324 laps led in 17 career Daytona 500 starts, which marks the all-time most by drivers who have never won the crown-jewel event. His best result is second (2019), and he has three top-five and five top-10 runs overall.
Busch lined up ninth on the final restart that set up the two-lap dash to the checkered flag in overtime. He wasn’t close enough to help fellow Toyota driver Wallace, who was third. Had Busch been, Wallace and Co. think the No. 23 would have had a better chance to pass Cindric for the win.
“Certainly,” said Wallace’s crew chief, Bootie Barker. “I mean, if you were to have one of our teammates with us, for sure you would have more of a shot. It just went against us this race. All of them got wrecked.”
PHOTOS: Sights, scenes from Daytona 500
Of the other Toyota pilots, Martin Truex Jr. wound up 13th and Kurt Busch was 19th. Both Hamlin (37th) and Christopher Bell (34th) crashed out.
Wallace and Busch had drafted together earlier, too, and it worked. Busch propelled Wallace, who led 12 laps.
“At the beginning, I was like this ain’t bad, and then we had some moments and I was like all right, let’s not let our guard down here,” Wallace said. “But Kyle is one of the best at pushing, so I appreciate that. We were trying to move the line and maybe we should have stayed top there and keep that line rolling, but it’s always interesting being pushed by him.”
The next superspeedway race isn’t until April 24 at Talladega Superspeedway, where Busch owns one win (2008) in 33 starts. Busch and the entire garage have Auto Club Speedway in a week instead (Feb. 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR does return to Daytona, though — Aug. 27 for the regular-season finale.
“Overall, a good day and a good effort,” Busch said. “I’m pleased with how far we came from behind to get a decent finish there. We were tore up a lot most of the race, so that was a good finish.”
RELATED: Eight-car crash toward front closes out Stage 1