This past weekend, NASCAR drivers took to Daytona Beach, Florida to compete in the

annual 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway race. The scheduled start time was 4 p.m., however, a few obstacles got in the way of a perfectly smooth race. 

Shortly after the start, a sixteen-car pile-up took place on lap fourteen. Austin Cindric’s car was in tandem with Cole Custer and on the turn ran into another car causing flames to explode on the barrier. While everyone involved was uninjured, this caused many drivers to get caught up and slowed down, including Denny Hamlin, who was looking for his third straight NASCAR win, and Brad Keselowski, who drives for Team Penski, spoke on the heartbreak after the crash. 

Keselowski’s car, at the time, was in the No. 2 position, took a risky move, and ultimately  was pinned to the wall and thrown back into the rest of the cars. He took to Twitter to state that “My body is fine but my heart is broken, after months of studying, months of tremendous car prep. Yet another Daytona 500 slipped away.” Extremely frustrated with this, Keselowski smashed his helmet on his No. 2 car and was visibly upset with the results. Keselowski looks to this coming weekend to fix errors made in Sunday’s race.

Moments after the track was cleared and safety was determined, the skies opened up and drivers experienced an almost six-hour rain and lightning delay. Starting up again around 9 pm, Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell took the lead after yet another crash on the final lap, cementing his victory. 

McDowell spoke excitedly to the media afterward, “I can’t believe it,” McDowell said. “I’ve got to thank God. So many years of just grinding it out, hoping for an opportunity like this. I’ve got to thank (team owner) Bob Jenkins for giving me this opportunity. I’m so thankful.” 

Though he did not lead a lap until the last, McDowell seized the moment that the crash provided, seizing his first win after 358 starts, the second-longest streak according to Racing Insights. Following McDowell was reigning serious champ, Chase Elliot who drives for Hendrick Motorsports, and Austin Dillon of his grandfather’s own Richard Childress Racing. 

Elliot, though finishing in second, was pleased with his race, saying “We had a fast car. We weren’t as good as I thought we were on Thursday (in the Duel 150-mile qualifying race). I thought we did a really good job of executing today, staying out of trouble.” 

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is scheduled for Sunday (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) at Daytona’s 3.61-mile road-course layout. Elliot currently has the best odds to win (+225), following him is Martin Truex Jr (+550) and AJ Allmendinger (+900)