Although close on fuel and with a piece of bear bond from Ryan Newman's car stuck to his grill, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took off on the last restart of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, moving in front of Jeff Gordon. Over the course of the last lap, an intense battle for the runner-up spots unfolded between Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin. Heading through turn 4, Kevin Harvick tried to force himself between Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch in turn 4, and a wreck ensued as Harvick was sent into the wall, collecting a number of other cars including McMurray, Busch, Carl Edwards, and Reed Sorenson. While that was happening, Earnhardt, Jr. held off Hamlin and took the checkered flag to score his second Daytona 500 victory. Earnhardt, Jr. stated that his car was "awesome" and after some help from Gordon on the restart, Earnhardt, Jr. "just took care of it from there".