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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove | Celebrities at Daytona

 

Things just have a way of being a whole lot bigger at the annual Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 — the fun, the stakes, the wrecks and, now, the fans.

 

Rob Gronkowski, the 6-foot-6, larger-than-life personality and Super Bowl-winning tight end for the New England Patriots, is out in full force at Daytona International Speedway and he’s brought the party with him.

 

"Just enjoying it, seeing everyone pre-game, tailgate, talking to everyone. Just having a blast so far," Gronkowski told media ahead of the "Great American Race."

 

"It’s my first Daytona 500. Having a great experience and just having a blast," Gronkowski said. "I’ve never really gotten to tailgate, never got to run around, so it’s cool to run around, meet people, enjoy the atmosphere and seeing how it really goes down outside the stadium when everybody is getting prepared for the big event."

 

Gronkowski, a Monster Energy athlete, pulled double-duty as pace car driver and grand marshal at Chicagoland Speedway in 2015, and has taken to NASCAR and its "strong" drivers and "passionate" fans since.

 

RELATED: Gronk spends family time, double-duty at Chicago

 

"I’ve been to Chicagoland one or two years ago and I see the fans and I see how passionate they are about the racing," said Gronkowski. "It just puts a new level of respect to the game. To be out there for three or four hours, being able to race that long, (drivers have) got to have that mentality, that strong mentality in your mind to just keep on going, keep on driving and doing everything right, every single turn. 

 

"It’s just critical, so you’ve got to give huge respect to the drivers on what they do and how focused they are throughout the three hours."

 

With a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series shirt on his back and a Monster Energy drink in his hand, Gronkowski was asked which he was a bigger fan of — the drink or the trademark Monster Energy girls.

 

"I’m a fan of both (Monster Energy drink and Monster Energy girls)," he said. "I’ve got my own drink, too, I make the girls drink my own drink so I get the benefit of both."

 

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It’s official: The Daytona  500 is a very special day for Denny Hamlin.

 

Last year’s "Great American Race" saw the Joe Gibbs Racing wheelman win by the smallest margin of victory in race history (.010 seconds) over Martin Truex Jr. And the 2017 event became perhaps even more memorable than 2016 even before the race went green, as Hamlin’s longtime girlfriend, Jordan Fish, announced the pair were expecting baby No. 2 in the sweetest way.

 

 

The couple are already parents to 4-year-old Taylor, who seems pretty excited to become a big sister.

 

Congrats to the entire family!

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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RELATED: FAQ for race format

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series saw NASCAR’s 2017 race enhancements in action in Sunday’s Daytona  500, with Kevin Harvick winning Stage 2.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was ahead at the end of the 120-lap mark in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and as a result, earned 10 race points and one playoff point for the 10-race championship run. Kyle Busch led Stage 1 (ahead at the Lap 60 mark) and also received 10 race points and one playoff point prior to his early departure for a Lap 104 wreck. The top 10 drivers also earned points after Stages 1 and 2, as distributed in the tables below.

The race winner will receive 40 points and five bonus playoff points. The top 10 finishers will also earn race points.

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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RELATED: Ride along with Junior, others during wreck

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. emerged from the Daytona International Speedway infield care center Sunday managing a slight smile and a heart full of gratitude despite being wrecked out of the season-opening Daytona  500. His car lasted until just after the midpoint of his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race since suffering concussion symptoms last summer.

"I feel good," said Earnhardt, who hasn’t raced since July of 2016 and ended up 37th on Sunday. "I don’t have any symptoms for anything I’ve experienced in the past. It wasn’t that hard of a hit, but still, that doesn’t mean you can’t get injured.

"I’ve just got to thank NASCAR because we got with them in the offseason about some things to help myself inside my car and we changed some things in the interior that are going to help me going forward. I just appreciate all the effort NASCAR has put into safety."

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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What channel is NASCAR programming on this week? We answer that and provide all the weekly NASCAR television listings here.

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area | See Atlanta races live

All times ET

Monday, Feb. 27
3 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona  500 (re-air), FS1
6:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane (re-air), FS1
7 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series: PowerShares QQQ 300 (re-air), FS1
6 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., Beyond the Wheel 2017, FS1

Tuesday, Feb. 28
6 a.m., 1993 Daytona  500 (re-air), FS1
6:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 (re-air), FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:30 p.m., Refuse to Lose: Jeff Gordon and the 1997 Daytona 500 (re-air), FS2
8:30 p.m., 1997 Daytona 500 (re-air), FS2
9 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 (re-air), FS2

Wednesday, March 1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, March 2
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air)

Friday, March 3
10 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1
11 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
Noon, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series practice, FS1
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
3:30 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice, FS1
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1
5:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1

Saturday, March 4
4 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice (re-air), FS1
5:30 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice (re-air), FS1
7:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (re-air), FS1
9 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
Noon, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: XFINITY, FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series Rinnai 250, FS1
4:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200, FS1
6:30 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Post-Race Show, FS1

Sunday, March 5
5 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Active Pest Control 200 (re-air), FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay (re-air), FS1
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series FOX Pre-Race Show, FOX
2:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip  500, FOX
11 p.m., NASCAR Victory Lane, FS1
11:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip  500 (re-air), FS1

 

 

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full results | Standings

 

Contact from Trevor Bayne sent Jimmie Johnson‘s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet spinning on Lap 127 in Sunday’s Daytona  500 at Daytona International Speedway. The ‘Big One’ also collected Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Joey Gase, Chris Buescher and Landon Cassill, among others.

Johnson was running third when the wreck unfolded. He was ruled out of the race, along with Patrick, due to extensive damage that was not fixed in the five-minute window on pit road. The wreck involved 17 cars in total.

Less than 15 laps later, a wiggle from Chase Elliott‘s No. 24 Chevrolet caused a multi-car pile-up that involved Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon and Ryan Newman, and brought out the eighth caution flag at Lap 141. All told, 11 cars were involved. Together, the two wrecks reshaped the running of the 59th annual Daytona  500.

WATCH: Wreck collects Suarez, Keselowski, others

"The Fords were really fast today," Patrick said. "We got organized and we were gone! It was the (most fun) 500 I’ve ever had. Well, probably not 500, more like 300 or 250. It is a real shame. I feel like we could have been a contender at the end, for sure we could have been an influencer."

Austin Dillon and Kasey Kahne were running 1-2 as cleanup for the wrecks commenced, although Kurt Busch — involved in the first of these wrecks — rallied for victory.

 

All told, 15 cars finished more than 10 laps back largely due to these incidents.

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove | Full race results

Kurt Busch won the 59th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday in legendary fashion, coming to the lead in the closing laps of the first race under the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series banner. 

 

NASCAR Nation reacted to the truly remarkable day — here are some of the best tweets.

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RELATED: Race results | Standings | Detailed breakdown | Shop for winner gear

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — His car damaged in a wreck on the backstretch and held together with tape, Kurt Busch grabbed the lead on the final lap of the 59th Daytona  500 on Sunday and took the checkered flag in the Great American Race as a capstone to a checkered career that has trended upward since Busch joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

In a race that featured the first test of a new three-stage race format in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series — and featured enough twisted sheet metal to keep fabricators busy for a month — Busch surged to the front with a run around the outside when more than half the vehicles in an 11-car lead draft sputtered and ran short on fuel.

Having pushed other drivers to victory in the 500 on three previous occasions, Busch took the prize himself this time, finishing .228 seconds ahead of Ryan Blaney, who came from the rear of the lead pack on the final two laps.

AJ Allmendinger ran third after conserving fuel over the final 20 laps, as a race that had produced eight caution flags for 40 laps ran green for the final 47 circuits. Aric Almirola finished fourth as a single car for Richard Petty Motorsports, with Paul Menard and Joey Logano coming home fifth and sixth, respectively.

"I can’t believe it!" Busch shouted on his team radio after claiming the 29th victory of his career and by far the most significant. "I love you guys! Thank you! Thank you!"

Busch lost his rear view mirror in the middle of the final green-flag run, but it didn’t matter.

"There is nothing predictable about this race any more, and the more years that have gone by that I didn’t win I kept trying to go back to patterns that I had seen in the past," Busch said. "My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back. And I thought that was an omen. Throw caution to the wind.

 

"It just got crazy and wild, and I am so proud of all the drivers at the end. We put on a show for a full fuel run, and nobody took each other out and it was one of the smartest chess games I have seen out there. All the hard work that Ford and SHR put into this — this Ford Fusion is in Daytona’s Victory Lane!"

Busch did what other drivers with seemingly stronger cars could not. Pole winner Chase Elliott was disconsolate after running out of fuel on the white-flag lap. He finished 14th.

Kyle Busch won the first 60-lap stage and collected the first playoff point in series history, but on Lap 105, he spun in Turn 3 when he cut a rear tire and collected fellow Toyota drivers Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, as well as Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was returning to competition after missing the final 18 races of the 2016 season while recovering from a concussion.

Busch fell out of the race in 38th place. Earnhardt took his car to the garage in 37th.

Kevin Harvick led 50 of the 200 laps and took the second stage, but he fell victim on Lap 128 to the 17-car pileup on the backstretch that also did the most damage to the sheet metal on Kurt Busch‘s car.  The 2014 series champion finished 22nd, three laps down.

Busch’s team owner, Tony Stewart, retired from Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition at the end of the 2016 season. Stewart-Haas spent the winter converting from Chevrolet to Ford, but it seemed to make little difference to Busch, who won his 2004 series championship in a Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

"It was a crazy race, even crazier to sit and watch it from a pit box finally," Stewart said. "If I had known all I had to do was retire, I would have retired 17 years ago, if I knew it was what it took to win the race … I ran this damn race for 18 years and didn’t win it.

"Kurt did an amazing job. He doesn’t even have a rear view mirror. The mirror folded on him. His spotter, Tony Raines, did an amazing job. That is the most composed I have ever seen Kurt at the end of a race. He deserved this."

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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RELATED: Race results | Elliott joins elite list with back-to-back poles

MORE: Elliott through the years

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Elliott led the Daytona  500 field to the green flag Sunday, a repeat pole-starter in NASCAR’s crown-jewel race. Similarly to last year, the 2016 Sunoco Rookie of the Year victor was unable to lead the field to the checkered flag. This time, however, an empty fuel cell was the culprit.

Elliott led five times for 39 laps, a total second only to early leader Kevin Harvick. But his powerful Speedweeks — with a Coors Light Pole Award, a Can-Am Duel victory and tons of momentum — fizzled when he sputtered off the pace just two and half laps from the finish.

"Out of gas," Elliott signaled over the radio as his blue-and-yellow Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet slowed toward the inside lane on the backstretch. Elliott was able to salvage a lead-lap finish in 14th, but it was far from the ultimate prize — a breakthrough Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory on the sport’s grandest stage.

Elliott emerged from his car and left the track quickly, hopping into a waiting vehicle with his father — NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott — driving. But he struck a regretful but pragmatic tone in a post-race tweet, saying, "Lessons learned the hard way today, let’s get to Atlanta!"

Before his fuel tank ran dry, Elliott had led 23 consecutive laps — the longest sustained span up front of the entire race. But the race-long dicing had given way to a settled, single-file pack with his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, concerned about his car’s mileage. Leading the way and burning up precious fuel with zero aerodynamic tow wasn’t helping.

"We knew we were short, but what do you do?," Gustafson told NASCAR.com. "It’s hard to say hey, let’s give up the Daytona  500 or follow in third or fourth. The way the shuffle ended up, Kurt was probably in the best spot because he could save a little fuel, whereas us and the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and the 42 (Kyle Larson, also in the top five) were having to run wide-open.

"I think we did all we could in the circumstances. We knew we were going to be really close, just ended up short."

Also working against Elliott was the 47-lap green flag stretch — the race’s longest — that preceded the dramatic end.

"We were hoping for a few cautions and I think if we were in third or fourth, we could’ve saved it, but I wasn’t about to give up the lead of the Daytona  500 and say ‘hey, we’ve got to fall back and save gas,’ " Gustafson said. "Little bit of wishful thinking and hoping the circumstances would play our way."

Elliott otherwise ran a masterful race, exhibiting patience on a day when it was in short supply for several in the field. Elliott has taken defeat hard in the past, but Gustafson said he had no concerns about Sunday’s defeat rattling his 21-year-old driver.

"There’s nothing he can do. I’d rather lose like that than I would be sitting in the garage or running 12th or 13th or 10 or lucking into a fifth, right? I don’t think that’s a bad thing. You go to the race track and you fight your guts out, and you win the pole, you win a Duel and lead the Daytona  500 with two laps to go. I don’t know that you should be sad about that."

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE

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RELATED: Full race results | Post-Daytona standings | Detailed breakdown

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — All the game planning, pit strategy and teamwork had been overhauled due to the implementation of stages, those in-race resets that reward points for drivers running in the top 10 after a predetermined number of laps.

 

But when the final laps of the 59th annual running of the Daytona  500 began to play themselves out, such things no longer mattered.

 

In the end, it was a freight train of sheet metal and horsepower churning and chugging toward the start/finish line, every team and every driver acting selfishly with only one thing in mind — get to the line first.

 

Kurt Busch did, and the 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion exorcised the demons of past restrictor-plate shortcomings in winning his first Daytona  500 after finishing second here a heartbreaking three times.

RELATED: Busch wins at Daytona | How close Busch had come in the past

 

Sunny skies and warm temperatures had long given way to the cool of evening here at Daytona International Speedway when Busch whipped his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the lead, shooting high and to the outside of Kyle Larson as a 10-car line snaked its way into Turn 1 for the final time around the legendary 2.5-mile track.

 

With help from a fast-closing Ryan (where’d he come from?) Blaney, and with the fuel-starved Chevrolet of Larson falling back, Busch stayed in the throttle and drove his way into Daytona lore.

 

It was the first full points race of the season, the first for series sponsor Monster Energy and it played out in front of grandstands filled to the brim.


RELATED: Monster Energy revs up the fans at the track

 

It was a classic Daytona  500 finish in what had been a different, bizarre-at-times race up to that point.

 

It was different because the format called for it to be different. A change in approach and a change in strategy was required. It was obvious that teams had spent time trying to figure out how to make the best of points opportunities while not giving away a shot at the big prize. Many will go back to the drawing board after Sunday.


RELATED: Fast facts on race enhancements | Harvick, Busch wins stages

 

Why else would nearly everyone driving a Toyota drop off the track and hit pit road under green after less than 20 laps of the opening 60-lap stage? At that point, they’d have enough fuel to make it to the end of the stage, they had ready-made drafting partners and stage points would be there for the taking.

 

Simple, right?

 

Only it didn’t work out that way. Rookie Daniel Suarez was too fast on pit road and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth flat-spotted his tires trying to slow his car. Both had to return to pit road. The best laid plans, you know …

 

It did pay dividends for JGR’s Kyle Busch, who was indeed out front at the end of Stage 1 to collect 10 additional points. And it looked as if it might work again in the second stage, until a tire issue sent Busch spinning up and into the wall where he collected Kenseth as well as Dale Earnhardt Jr.


RELATED: Dale Jr. in wreck with Kyle Busch | Two ‘Big Ones’ reshape race

 

Ford teams appeared to have a similar strategy, albeit their pit cycle seemed to fall a bit later in each stage, and to be honest, when the caution flag began appearing every 10 laps or so, strategy went out the window.

 

Suddenly it was a game of survival.

 

Nearly a half-dozen former Daytona  500 winners loaded up and departed as just that — former Daytona  500 winners. Some before the checkered, some incredibly made it to the end.

 

Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray saw their hopes at victory end or be severely curtailed due to their involvement in any one of the four multi-car accidents that gobbled up as few as five cars and as many as 17.

 

Nearly the entire final 50 laps were run caution free, without delays to slow the action. Fuel concerns began to creep into the equation. Too late for some. The time for strategy had passed.

 

From here up until the end, it was about racing. Flat-out, pure and simple.

 

In the end it was exactly what everyone hoped for and most expected. It was bizarre at times, yes, but in the end, when it mattered most, it was a classic.

 

It was the Daytona  500.

2018 DAYTONA 500 VIP Ticket Packages are now available from PrimeSport! As the Official Ticket Exchange of Daytona International Speedway, PrimeSport has your access to all the action at the World Center of Racing! Receive $50 off per reservation when you book your 2018 DAYTONA package by Saturday March 4th. Use code DAYTONA18 at checkout. Coupon code DAYTONA18 is active now through Saturday March, 4th. | GO HERE