DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The start to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series did not go off without a hitch but with multiple crashes, yellow flags, and two overtimes.
At the end of the day, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and the one-car JTG Daugherty Racing stood alone in the winner's circle. Stenhouse snapped a 199-race winless streak, the 4th longest streak between wins in Cup Series History.
The first 2 stages of the race were run mostly under green flags but a wreck-filled stage 3 forced the race to go into Overtime. The newest addition to Richard Childress Racing, Kyle Busch, sat in the pole position as overtime began but was quickly passed by Joey Logano, Stenhouse Jr, and Kyle Larson on his outside. Shortly after being passed, Busch's RCR teammate Austin Dillon got spun out from behind causing another yellow flag to fly.
In the second overtime, Stenhouse Jr and Logano were side by side on the final lap when Larson, who got caught in the middle while trying to make a play for first, was turned into the wall. NASCAR officials determined that Stenhouse was in first when the final lap caution was called.
Stenhouse's win in a Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing -- a team part-owned by former NBA player Brad Daugherty -- was the third of his career. His only other victories came in 2017 -- at Talladega and the summer race at Daytona.
Now he's got a repeat win at Daytona in NASCAR's biggest race of the season. And it came in his first race reunited with crew chief Mike Kelly, who guided Stenhouse to a pair of Xfinity Series championships earlier in his career.
Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano finished second in a Ford for Team Penske, which won the race last year with Austin Cindric.
"Second is the worst, man,'' Logano said.
