He took the lead with two laps remaining, but then his position started to go in the wrong direction. Truex got shuffled out of line, and on the final lap, his car ran out of fuel, leaving him with a 13th-place finish in the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season opener.
After a successful Speedweeks, Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team were prepared and ready for the 59th Annual Daytona 500. Starting from the 13th spot and an XFINITY race under his belt, Almirola raced in the Top 20 knowing the stages caused urgency right at the start. By the first caution on Lap 27, Almirola was in 24th and said the car was tight the exit of the corner. Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer called for a four-tire pit stop and adjustments.
Kurt Busch’s return to Ford couldn’t have gone any better as he passed Kyle Larson on the final lap to win Sunday’s 59th Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Ryan Blaney opened the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season by driving the fuel-starved Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion to second place in the 59th Daytona 500.
RYAN, PLEASE WALK US THROUGH THE FINAL LAPS FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE. “Yeah, I thought we had a good car all day to start off. We showed that definitely in the first half of the race. Then we got some damage there in one of those big wrecks about middle of the race. Kind of hurt our car a little bit. AJ (Allmendinger) and I are just talking. Looks like everyone ran a race at Martinsville. Everyone's stuff was tore up.
AJ Allmendinger finished in third place to lead Team Chevy in the 59th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday. Allmendinger started in row 19 and overcame an early issue with the left front of his No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet SS en route to equaling his best-ever finish The Great American Race.
After blowing both front tires early on in the 59th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was caught up in a late race accident with 63 laps remaining forcing him to settle with a 31st-place finish.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 14TH "It was a disappointing finish to a good day. Just one of those things you can't do anything about. I'm happy with how the NAPA team performed, and we are going to learn from it. I'm proud of how hard everyone worked all week. We're looking forward to getting back at it in Atlanta."
KURT BUSCH -- No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Fusion (Finished 1st) -- YOU ARE A DAYTONA 500 WINNER. YOUR INITIAL REACTIONS AND EMOTIONS? “There is nothing predictable about this race anymore 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. My mirror fell off with 30 laps to go and I couldn’t even see out the back."
It was a challenging day for Josh Berry and the No. 21 DEX team at Kansas Speedway, ending in a 27th-place finish in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 after starting 30th.
Alex Palou got the break he needed and fast work from his Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew, and then he ran away with a victory Sunday in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
