The more banking, the less braking! One driver of the big-time 45 will get their big "brake" today, engulfing themselves in the riches of $10,000,000 and a Daytona 500 trophy! A front row consisting of Duel Winners Dave Miller and Ken Pettit will lead the field, proving that old-timers can still get it done for the feature-length distances. Can they hold them off for 500 miles?

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

 

Over 300,000 screaming race fans encapsulate the grandstands, watching starter Joe "Scallion" Smart wave the green flag for the 2024 season! Pole-sitter Dave Miller couldn't hold off the incursion from behind, leading two laps before Cinderella Cheeze-It man David Courtney took the point! Quantum Racing's Matthew Dominique and Matt Raboin led through lap 8.

Rick Jackson absolutely obliterated the field on horsepower, leading over a decade of laps before the first round of stops. Dominique, Miller, Alex Crapser and Zach Michael took their turns at the front. A four-car breakaway after pit stops gave Crapser, Trae Larkin, Mark Heron and Craig Lee the immaculate four-car tandem up front as the rest of the field scurried behind.

Devastation on lap-73 takes out Jimmie Stevens and Bink Lucas! The Lifesaver Racing duo had high hopes heading into the big race, but now radiator remnants and exhaust pipe debris litter the racetrack in turn-4! Bink watched as Stevens and Geer made contact, sending the #2 into the front-end of the #5 Lifesaver entry. Both devastated the outside wall, with Bink finishing 44th and Stevens limping it home to 40th.

Alex Crapser remained the head-man up front after the restart, passing Johnny Reed Foley on lap 84. The #3 AC-Delco mobile took it back one lap later, dominating the entirety of the run as the field spread out behind! Crapser would take it back before green flag stops shuffled the field once more.

42 cars remained in the event as the attrition rate remained extremely low. Pole-sitter Dave Miller was the last to fall out, smashing his racecar and dismantling the radiator after hard contact entering the pits. He, Bink Lucas and Logan Sheets would fall to the "gremlin-positions" of 43rd through 45th. An eight-car breakaway at the front kept the home-fires burning for one-fifth of the remaining field!

Ben Geer, Markell Murphy, Tony Pizzaro, Alex Crapser, Zach Michael, Mark Heron, Rick Jackson and Craig Lee pulled away from the pack, sitting pretty with 50 laps remaining. They looked like an octopus on steroids, swapping positions vigorously as the Ryan Heuser freight-train closed in from behind. They would sneak from 5.5 to 4.5 seconds during the 40-lap stint.

Drivers came in just before the 40-to-go mark, leaving many to wonder if anybody could make it on fuel. The Jeremy Hebel #1 team looked the most promising, consistently running the extra lap to stretch their economy to the max! A four-car breakaway with Craig Lee, Alex Crapser, Tony Pizzaro and Ben Geer looked to stretch the distance and dominate the remainder of the show for themselves!

Lapped-traffic and high-horsepower leaders from the second-pack managed to catch the four up front with 25 laps to go. Suddenly Steve Inkman and Cristian Torres were in the mix, with Ken Pettit circulating the show up front during the final stages. He, Alex Crapser and Zakk Miller swapped the lead multiple times in desperate agony, knowing somebody from the back might make it on immaculate gasoline!

Craig Lee and Ben Geer came in first. Tony Pizzaro and Alex Crapser dove down the pits heading to the five-to-go mark, using Pizzaro's draft help to fly by after their stop-and -go's were complete. Crapser drafted by Zakk Miller and Ken Pettit on the pre-penultimate laps, with Cristian Torres, Matt Raboin and David Butterworth attempting a dice-roll of the gods to win the Daytona 500! Torres finally came in with two laps-to-go, coming out of the pits ahead of the field with freight-train of frenzied wildabeasts ready to make their char ... Read more »