Austin Dillon Wins 2018 Daytona 500 20 Years After Dale Earnhardt's Victory

Austin Dillon won the Dayton 500 on Sunday atDaytona International Speedway in Florida, holding off Darrell Wallace Jr. and Denny Hamlin to claim his first win at the race in a wild evening at the track.A major crash impacted the end of the race and sent it into overtime, as multiple cars collided with one another and showered the track in sparks with just two laps to go.It was one of three major wrecks on the evening.NASCAR shared the wild finish to the race:Dillon, who only led in the race's final lap in overtime, could hardly believe he had pulled off the win:The victory took on added significance, as Dillon was driving the No. 3 car forRichard Childress Racing, the same car that legendary deceased driver Dale Earnhardt once drove.Dillon's celebration after the win paid tribute to the racing icon:"It was so awesome to take the No. 3 car back to victory lane 20 years later," Dillon said after the race, perNASCAR. "This one is for Dale Earnhardt Sr. and all those Sr. fans. I love you guys, we're gonna keep kicking butt the rest of the year."His victory wasn't without some controversy, however, as Aric Almirola lost the lead in overtime after being spun out and hitting the wall:Wallace finished in second and Hamlin in third, with Joey Logano and Chris Buescher rounding out the top five. For the full race results, be sure to check outNASCAR.com.Wallace's finish also was a piece of history, as Matt Weaver ofAutoweeknoted:Kurt Busch was the Stage 1 winner, while Ryan Blaney won the second stage.The race was defined by its wrecks, however, including one that took out Chase Elliott and Danica Patrick in one fell swoop:For Patrick, the crash represented the end of her NASCAR career, as the Daytona 500 was her final race. After her wreck in the pileup following the crash, she spoke on the Fox broadcast (h/t Jerry Bonkowski of Yahoo Sports):"I said earlier today that I feel like the whole thing was picture perfect with GoDaddy on the car, and it being that green again. It just wasn't meant to be today."I am proud we raced the whole race other than a little bit at the end of that first stage when it looked silly with all the cars with tires and no tires. Other than that, we raced it and the car was competitive. That is all you can do. That is the gamble at Daytona. It can go so well; and it can go so awful.I'm just sad that it ended that way."Patrick is planning on ending her racing career in May at the Indianapolis 500.That wasn't the only wreck, as Stage 1 ended with a major pileup:In total,Blaney, Busch,Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Logano, Ryan Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Wallace, Brendan Gaughan, AJ Allmendinger, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Matt DiBenedetto were all caught up in that crash.Suffice to say, this year's iteration of the Daytona 500 wasn't without its drama or highly aggressive driving. When the literal smoke cleared, though, it was Dillon who escaped with the win.
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