2020 Daytona 500

The **2020 Daytona 500** was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 16-17, 2020. The race lasted 209 laps on the  asphalt superspeedway. However, the race was originally going to be 200 laps. It was the first race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

The race was started by President of the United States Donald Trump, who served as Grand Marshal, and the opening lap was paced by the official Presidential state car. Popular wrestler Sheamus drove the pace car for the opening laps. Two-time winner of the race Dale Earnhardt Jr. waved the green flag to officially start the race.

The race was to start February 16, but never-ending rain showers stopped the race on lap 20. The race was moved  4 p.m. on February 17, 2020. This being the second, he first time was in 2012.

Lots of the race was good until lap 185, a crash involved at least 20 cars on the backstretch. The race was stopped because of the crash. Denny Hamlin won the race by 0.014 seconds over Ryan Blaney on the second restart in overtime. Chris Buescher, David Ragan, and Kevin Harvick rdid not make it in the top five. On the final lap, Ryan Newman was involved in a serious crash and was immediately rushed to a local hospital. He was seriously injured in the crash, but the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

### Stage Results

**Stage One**
_Laps:_ 65

|Pos||Driver|Team|Manufacturer|Points|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|9|Chase Elliott|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|10|
|2|88|Alex Bowman|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|9|
|3|10|Aric Almirola|Stewart-Haas Racing|Ford|8|
|4|22|Joey Logano|Team Penske|Ford|7|
|5|48|Jimmie Johnson|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|6|
|6|12|Ryan Blaney|Team Penske|Ford|5|
|7|47|Ricky Stenhouse Jr.|JTG Daugherty Racing|Chevrolet|4|
|8|21|Matt DiBenedetto|Wood Brothers Racing|Ford|3|
|9|17|Chris Buescher|Roush Fenway Racing|Ford|2|
|10|13|Ty Dillon|Germain Racing|Chevrolet|1|

**Stage Two**
_Laps:_ 65

|Pos||Driver|Team|Manufacturer|Points|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|11|Denny Hamlin|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|10|
|2|18|Kyle Busch|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|9|
|3|47|Ricky Stenhouse Jr.|JTG Daughtery Racing|Chevrolet|8|
|4|19|Martin Truex Jr.|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|7|
|5|77|Ross Chastain **(i)**|Spire Motorsports|Chevrolet|0|
|6|48|Jimmie Johnson|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|5|
|7|9|Chase Elliott|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|4|
|8|12|Ryan Blaney|Team Penske|Ford|3|
|9|22|Joey Logano|Team Penske|Ford|2|
|10|17|Chris Buescher|Roush Fenway Racing|Ford|1|

### Final Stage Results

**Stage Three**
_Laps:_ 70
|Pos|Grid||Driver|Team|Manufacturer|Laps|Points|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|21|11|Denny Hamlin|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|209|50|
|2|27|12|Ryan Blaney|Team Penske|Ford|209|43|
|3|19|17|Chris Buescher|Roush Fenway Racing|Ford|209|37|
|4|30|36|David Ragan|Rick Ware Racing|Ford|209|33|
|5|10|4|Kevin Harvick|Stewart-Haas Racing|Ford|209|32|
|6|29|14|Clint Bowyer|Stewart-Haas Racing|Ford|209|31|
|7|39|62|Brendan Gaughan **(i)**|Beard Motorsports|Chevrolet|209|0|
|8|38|32|Corey LaJoie|Go Fas Racing|Ford|209|29|
|9|7|6|Ryan Newman|Roush Fenway Racing|Ford|209|28|
|10|8|42|Kyle Larson|Chip Ganassi Racing|Chevrolet|209|27|
|11|23|38|John Hunter Nemechek **(R)**|Front Row Motorsports|Ford|209|26|
|12|13|3|Austin Dillon|Richard Childress Racing|Chevrolet|209|25|
|13|33|16|Justin Haley **(i)**|Kaulig Racing|Chevrolet|209|0|
|14|26|34|Michael McDowell|Front Row Motorsports|Ford|209|23|
|15|11|43|Bubba Wallace|Richard Petty Motorsports|Chevrolet|209|22|
|16|34|15|Brennan Poole **(R)**|Premium Motorsports|Chevrolet|209|21|
|17|25|9|Chase Elliott|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|209|34|
|18|14|20|Erik Jones|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|208|19|
|19|16|21|Matt DiBenedetto|Wood Brothers Racing|Ford|207|21|
|20|1|47|Ricky Stenhouse Jr.|JTG Daugherty Racing|Chevrolet|206|29|
|21|17|95|Christopher Bell **(R)**|Leavine Family Racing|Toyota|205|16|
|22|5|10|Aric Almirola|Stewart-Haas Racing|Ford|205|23|
|23|37|51|Joey Gase **(i)**|Petty Ware Racing|Chevrolet|203|0|
|24|2|88|Alex Bowman|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|203|22|
|25|20|77|Ross Chastain **(i)**|Spire Motorsports|Chevrolet|201|0|
|26|3|22|Joey Logano|Team Penske|Ford|200|20|
|27|32|66|Timmy Hill **(i)**|MBM Motorsports|Toyota|200|0|
|28|22|8|Tyler Reddick **(R)**|Richard Childress Racing|Chevrolet|199|9|
|29|31|37|Ryan Preece|JTG Daugherty Racing|Chevrolet|198|8|
|30|24|13|Ty Dillon|Germain Racing|Chevrolet|198|8|
|31|40|27|Reed Sorenson|Premium Motorsports|Chevrolet|192|6|
|32|15|19|Martin Truex Jr.|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|186|12|
|33|18|1|Kurt Busch|Chip Ganassi Racing|Toyota|184|4|
|34|28|18|Kyle Busch|Joe Gibbs Racing|Toyota|184|12|
|35|6|48|Jimmie Johnson|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|184|13|
|36|9|2|Brad Keselowski|Team Penske|Ford|183|1|
|37|12|41|Cole Custer **(R)**|Stewart-Haas Racing|Ford|174|1|
|38|38|52|B. J. McLeod **(i)**|Rick Ware Racing|Ford|105|0|
|39|35|00|Quin Houff **(R)**|StarCom Racing|Chevrolet|89|1|
|40|4|24|William Byron|Hendrick Motorsports|Chevrolet|58|1|

### Race statistics

- Lead changes: 23 among 13 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 9 for 39
- Red flags: 3 (1 for weather, 2 for accidents)
- Time of race: 3 hours, 42 minutes and 10 seconds
- Margin of Victory: 0.014 seconds
- Average speed:

### Post-race

Right after the race was done, Hamlin and his crew did not know how serious Newman's crash. Instead, they started to celebrate the win, When he exited his car, the crowd booed him both on the infield grass and again in victory lane. Joe Gibbs gave an apology for the team's celebration, with Hamlin saying he was first notified when NASCAR canceled the tradition of interviewing the winner on the front-stretch before driving his car to victory lane

## Standings after the race

- Drivers' Championship standings
||Pos|Driver|Points||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|1|Denny Hamlin|style="text-align:center;"|50|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|2|Ryan Blaney|style="text-align:center;"|43 (–7)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|3|Kevin Harvick|style="text-align:center;"|39 (–11)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|4|Chris Buescher|style="text-align:center;"|38 (–12)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|5|Ryan Newman|style="text-align:center;"|36 (–14)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|6|Kyle Larson|style="text-align:center;"|35 (–15)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|7|Chase Elliott|style="text-align:center;"|34 (–16)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|8|David Ragan|style="text-align:center;"|33 (–17)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|9|Ricky Stenhouse Jr.|style="text-align:center;"|32 (–18)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|10|Aric Almirola|style="text-align:center;"|32 (–18)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|11|Clint Bowyer|style="text-align:center;"|31 (–19)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|12|Austin Dillon|style="text-align:center;"|30 (–20)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|13|Joey Logano|style="text-align:center;"|30 (–20)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|14|Corey LaJoie|style="text-align:center;"|29 (–21)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|15|Bubba Wallace|style="text-align:center;"|28 (–22)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|16|John Hunter Nemechek|style="text-align:center;"|26 (–24)|

- Manufacturers' Championship standings
||Pos|Manufacturer|Points||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|1|Toyota|style="text-align:center;"|40|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|2|Ford|style="text-align:center;"|35 (–5)|
|align="left"||style="text-align:center;"|3|Chevrolet|style="text-align:center;"|30 (–10)|

- <small>**Note**: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.</small>