DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Team Penske’s trio dominated to lead 125 of 201 laps in the Daytona 500, but the title-defending organization came away with bent fenders and frustration after a Lap 186 crash instead of a Harley J. Earl Trophy.
Just 10 laps later, Ryan Preece launched skyward, heading down the Daytona International Speedway backstretch, flipping upside down at the 2.5-mile superspeedway for the second time in three years.
The aggression that led to those dramatic visuals highlight the desperation that comes with trying to win the “Great American Race.”
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Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano led 43 of the first 70 laps but was forced to rally back through the field after debris caught in his motor created a setback during Stage 2. That rally charged him to fifth place with 15 laps to go in the Daytona 500.
Working Lap 186 and trailing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the middle lane, Logano surged to Stenhouse’s left with a run to move past the No. 47 Chevrolet. Logano moved to wedge his No. 22 Ford between Stenhouse and Blaney, but Stenhouse threw the block to protect the position.
With time running low, Logano had no intentions of rescinding his advance. That decision ultimately led to contact to Stenhouse’s left rear from Logano’s right front, turning Stenhouse squarely into then-second-place-runner Ryan Blaney – Logano’s Penske teammate – and spinning both of them out. The melee also collected Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland, totaling eight vehicles.
“It just seemed like the No. 47 had a bit of an indecisive moment,” Logano said. “That’s what gets you in trouble at times is when you’ve got to pick one (lane).”
Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 champ, believed he needed to get in front of Stenhouse, he said, and saw his opportunity to drop in front of Gragson. He pounced on that chance but to the dismay of himself and others.
“We had a late block. I lifted,” Logano said. “Looked like he was gonna go back up. I went to go back in there, and then he came back down and started lifting again. And then at that point, the checkup was so big, and all the cars behind you and shoving you into it, and at that point, you’re along for the ride.”
Stenhouse, the 2023 winner of the “Great American Race,” had winning on his brain too and believes he and Logano could have worked together to fight among themselves. Before Logano moved low, he was third in the outside lane behind Corey LaJoie and Stenhouse.
“I was bummed that he was trying to make a move on us because I felt like me, him and LaJoie were getting ready to drive to first, second and third, and then we could race it out,” Stenhouse told NASCAR.com. “We still had 10 laps to go. So pretty disappointed about that. But I mean, you’ve got to try and take those gaps when you can, I guess, and he always takes them. We know that.”
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And with a prestigious victory on the line, Logano was wasting no moves.
“I don’t know what to do differently,” Logano said. “At the moment, it’s easy to say, just don’t make the move, but not making the move doesn’t win the race either.”
Ten laps later, those same motives led to the night’s most hair-raising moment at Lap 196.
Heading the outside lane, Christopher Bell received a hearty shove from Cole Custer on the backstretch, which turned him head-on into the outside wall. Bouncing off the SAFER barrier, Bell spun back into traffic and into the path of Preece.
Preece’s No. 60 RFK Racing Ford climbed the left-front corner of Bell’s No. 20 Toyota and effectively wheelied down the backstretch. Air caught the underbelly of Preece’s car, sending the car airborne and upside down into the 31-degree banking of Turn 3. The vehicle turned back onto its wheels just before it backed atop the SAFER barrier and slid back to the grass.
The ambitious push from Custer to Bell was made in hopes of a victory. Preece paid the price in lieu of a trophy for any of the three. After a horrendous tumble down the same backstretch in the summer of 2023, Preece expressed his frustration after another violent ride.
“Something needs to be done,” Preece said, “because cars lifting off the ground like that … I mean, that felt, honestly, worse than Daytona in ’23.”
But even Bell, at the epicenter of the accident’s origins, couldn’t pin blame on Custer for the aggressive bump draft, not with a Harley J. Earl Trophy and a chance to etch your name in NASCAR history on the line.
“Nobody did anything wrong,” Bell said. “You have to be pushing if you want to succeed, and it’s the name of the game. So, nobody did anything wrong. Just the way it goes.”