Denny Hamlin Wins 2nd Daytona 500 Race In 4 Years

Denny Hamlin came to the Daytona 500 determined to honor his late car owner with a victory.

He delivered with a storybook tribute for Joe Gibbs Racing.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Hamlin won NASCAR's biggest race for the second time in four years Sunday, leading JGR in a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium in overtime. The race and the season have been dedicated to J.D. Gibbs, Joe Gibbs' eldest son who died last month after battling a degenerative neurological disease.

J.D. Gibbs helped his father start the race team, ran it while Joe Gibbs was coaching the Washington Redskins, was a tire changer on the team's first Daytona 500 victory and the one who discovered Hamlin during a test session at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Hamlin was hired to drive the No. 11 — the number J.D. Gibbs used when he played football — and J.D. Gibbs' name is on the Toyota.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: The crew of Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Chocolate Bar Toyota, hold a banner remembering JD Gibbs during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

When Hamlin stopped his car along the front stretch to collect the checkered flag, he immediately credited J.D. Gibbs.

"The whole family, they did so much for me over the course of my career, and this one is for J.D," Hamlin said. "We are desperately going to miss him the rest of our lives. His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing and proud to do this for them."

Hamlin was met in victory lane by the entire Gibbs family, including J.D.'s widow and four sons.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates in victory lane with team owner Joe Gibbs after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

"He meant a lot to me and it's hard for me not getting choked up because I've been choked up about 100 times about it," Hamlin said. "Just to have Melissa (Gibbs) and all the kids here, it's just crazy."

Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame NFL coach with three Super Bowl victories, ranked the tribute win to his son first in his career accomplishments. J.D. Gibbs encouraged his father to move the team from a crowded-Chevrolet camp to become Toyota's flagship team in 2008 and the Daytona 500 victory was the 100th for JGR in a Camry.

"It is the most emotional and biggest win I've ever had in my life, in anything," Gibbs said. "It was the most important night in my occupational life. I know J.D. and everybody in my family was emotional."

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch and Erik Jones finished second and third as JGR became the second team in NASCAR history to sweep the Daytona 500 podium. Hendrick Motorsports did it in 1997 with Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Craven.

Busch, now winless in 14 Daytona 500s, was initially openly disappointed in falling short.

"He's got two, I've got none, and that's just the way it goes sometimes," Busch said.

But he reiterated the JGR and Toyota goal of working together to win the race and noted he didn't have much of a shot at beating Hamlin because the field had been decimated by a flurry of late accidents.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

"Was trying to make sure one of us gets to victory lane, first and foremost," Busch said. "There wasn't enough cars out there running at the end. I don't know how it would have played out."

The Cup Series slogged through three uninspiring exhibition races during Speedweeks to cause concern over a potentially disappointing main event. Jim France, who took over as chairman of NASCAR last August, used the pre-race driver meeting to ask the drivers to liven up the activity. Hamlin and Chase Elliott were the rare drivers to use the bottom lane in the exhibition races while the rest of the field ran single-file along the top.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Bubba Wallace, driver of the #43 Aftershokz Chevrolet, Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, and Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

"I hope a few of you drivers out there will get down on the bottom with Denny and Chase and put on a good show today," France told the field.

The drivers obeyed and delivered an action-packed and wreck-filled running of "The Great American Race."

There was an accident on pit road, a 21-car crash, 12 cautions and five wrecks in the final 20 laps of regulation. The race was stopped twice for cleanup totaling nearly 40 minutes in the final stretch. During the second red-flag, one of NASCAR's track-drying trucks broke down while cleaning oil off the racing surface.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Paul Menard, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, wrecks during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

Hamlin and Busch alternated as the leaders during the handful of late restarts, and the final rush to the checkered flag was a push to hold off Ford driver and reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano. The Ford camp went 1-2-3 in both of Thursday's qualifying races and was favored to win the Daytona 500.

Logano, who started his career at JGR, settled for fourth and also took a moment to honor J.D. Gibbs.

"I'm not a Gibbs driver but for what J.D. has done for my career is the reason why I'm sitting here today," Logano said. "As bad as I want to win it, it is pretty cool to think that the first race after his passing, to see those guys one, two, three, it just says he's up there watching and maybe gave (those) guys a little extra boost there at the end."

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the #95 Procore Toyota, race during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Michael McDowell was fifth in a Ford but aggravated Logano by not working with him in the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.

"I just told him that my team doesn't pay me to push Joey Logano to a win," McDowell said.

Ty Dillon was sixth in the highest-finishing Chevrolet.

The race featured eight drivers making their Daytona 500 debuts and rookie Ryan Preece, a short track racer from New England, was best in class with an eighth-place finish. Ross Chastain, the eighth-generation watermelon farmer who lost his main ride for this year when the FBI raided his sponsor right before Christmas, finished 10th,

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, and Alex Bowman, driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, lead the field during pace laps prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Jamie McMurray, the 2010 winner, led six laps and was in the mix until he was collected in one of the late accidents. He finished 22nd in his final race before retirement.

William Byron and Alex Bowman were the youngest front row in race history but had little to show for it after the race. Bowman finished 11th and Byron, the pole-sitter, was 21st.

Hamlin last year suffered through his first winless season in the Cup Series and made a crew chief change during the offseason. When he won the 500 in 2016 it was his debut race with crew chief Mike Wheeler, and this victory came in his first race with Chris Gabehart.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Expressc Toyota, crosses the finish line to win the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Hamlin's first Daytona 500 victory was in a photo finish against Martin Truex Jr. and the celebration was a blur. This one, he said, he will enjoy.

"I think I was so dumbfounded about everything that happened the first time with the photo finish and everything," Hamlin said. "This one lets me soak it in a little bit more. I'm going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but I'm going to enjoy it the rest of my life."

© 2019 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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