2016 Daytona 500

The **2016 Daytona 500**, the 58th running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on February 21, 2016, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 200 laps on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway, it was the first race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Denny Hamlin won the race in a photo finish over Martin Truex Jr.. The top-five was rounded out by Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.

Chase Elliott won the pole for the race and led three laps before crashing out early in the race and finished 37th. Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle Busch won the Duel races. Unlike Busch, Earnhardt Jr. crashed out with 29 laps to go and finished 36th.

Hamlin led a race high of 95 laps on his way to winning the race. There were six caution flag periods for 31 laps and 20 lead changes among 15 different drivers.

This was the 27th career victory for Hamlin, first of the season, first at Daytona International Speedway and fifth win at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. He left Daytona Beach with a five-point lead over Truex Jr. Toyota left with an eight-point lead over Chevrolet in the manufacturer standings.

The Daytona 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

This event featured guest star WWE wrestler John Cena as a pace car driver.

This was the first Daytona 500 since 1992 and 1998 in not featuring Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. Gordon retired at the end of 2015 and called the 2016 race from the commentators stand, and Stewart was injured his back while riding a dune buggy outside of San Diego.

## Report

### Background

Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, that is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track also features two other layouts that utilize portions of the primary high speed tri-oval, such as a 3.56-mile (5.73 km) sports car course and a 2.95-mile (4.75 km) motorcycle course. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The track was built by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. to host racing that was being held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course and opened with the first Daytona 500 in 1959. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004, and the track repaved in 1978 and 2010.

The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar. It is also the series' first race of the year; this phenomenon is virtually unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start. Since 1995, U.S. television ratings for the Daytona 500 have been the highest for any auto race of the year, surpassing the traditional leader, the Indianapolis 500 which in turn greatly surpasses the Daytona 500 in in-track attendance and international viewing. The 2006 Daytona 500 attracted the sixth largest average live global TV audience of any sporting event that year with 20 million viewers.

## Changes

### Restrictor plate

For the events of Speedweeks, the size of the holes in the restrictor plates was reduced from 29/32nd of an inch to 57/64th of an inch.

### Race procedure

Changes were made to the green-white-checker procedure for this race and all races in 2016 with an "overtime line." The location of this line will vary from track to track, but it'll be located near the middle of the backstretch at most tracks. If the leader passes the line before a caution comes out, the race will end under caution. If a caution comes out before the leader passes the line, the field will be reset to their original spots and another restart will be attempted until a "clean restart" is achieved. These changes are in response to the botched final restart attempt in last October's 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega at Talladega Superspeedway.

## Entry list

The entry list for the Daytona 500 was released on Friday, February 12, at 12:05 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race.

Following the 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a number of drivers attempted to run for a different team than they did in 2015. Chase Elliott, 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, took over the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the retired Jeff Gordon. Clint Bowyer took over the No. 15 (renumbered from No. 51) from Justin Allgaier. Brian Scott took over the No. 44 (renumbered from No. 9) from Sam Hornish Jr. Chris Buescher, reigning Xfinity Series champion, took over the No. 34 from Brett Moffitt and various of drivers. Landon Cassill took over the No. 38 from David Gilliland. David Ragan took over the No. 23 from Jeb Burton, and J. J. Yeley. Regan Smith took over the No. 7 from Alex Bowman. Brian Vickers drove the No. 14 in place of the injured Tony Stewart.

## Practice

### First practice (February 13)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 46.364 seconds and a speed of 194.116 mph (312.399 km/h).

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### Second practice (February 13)

Joey Logano was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 45.934 seconds and a speed of 195.933 mph (315.324 km/h).

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## Qualifying

 File:Chase Elliott Road America 2015.jpg
Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is different from any other race weekend because the starting lineup for the race – except for the two drivers that post the two fastest timed laps in the final round of qualifying – isn't set on qualifying day. It sets the lineup for the two duel races the following Thursday.

Unlike qualifying at non-restrictor plate races, qualifying at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway consists of two rounds of cars being sent out one at a time to make a single timed lap. The fastest 12 advance to the final round to run for the pole position.

Chase Elliott scored the pole for the race with a time of 45.845 and a speed of 196.314 mph (315.937 km/h). He said that today was "a very, very cool day. I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it’s nothing special I did, it’s really what kind of work they did this off-season to make it happen."

After qualifying seventh and being all but guaranteed into the Daytona 500 based on speed, Ryan Blaney said that he "wasn't really too nervous going into today. I knew we had a really fast race car. We just had to do our job and we did it and we just had to lock ourselves in. I really wasn't feeling any different than I do any other day."

Likewise, Matt DiBenedetto – who was also all but guaranteed in on his speed after qualifying 24th – said that he could "sleep well, finally. I was really nervous all night. This is just a testament to the hard work from the guys on my team. Two-hundredths of a second. I'm really thankful, thankful to be racing in my first Daytona 500, most importantly. I'm really thankful and blessed to be here."

Martin Truex Jr. was unable to post a time over a roof flap issue. The Stewart Haas Racing cars of Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers had their times disqualified after their track bars failed inspection.

## Practice (post-qualifying)

### Third practice (February 17)

Michael McDowell was the fastest in the third practice session with a time of 44.961 and a speed of 200.173 mph (322.147 km/h).

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### Fourth practice (February 17)

Brian Scott was the fastest in the fourth practice session with a time of 45.045 and a speed of 199.800 mph (321.547 km/h). Kyle Larson and Michael Waltrip will start from the rear of the field in their respective Duel races after being involved in a four-car crash in turn 1.

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### Fifth practice (February 18)

Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the fifth practice session with a time of 46.619 and a speed of 193.054 mph (310.690 km/h).

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## Can-Am Duel

*Main article*: ***2016 Can-Am Duels***
The Can-Am Duels are a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races held in conjunction with the Daytona 500 annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. They consist of two races 60 laps and 150 miles (240 km) in length, which serve as heat races that set the lineup for the Daytona 500. Both races sets the lineup for positions 3–32. The first race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in odd-numbered positions on pole qualifying day. The second race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in even-numbered positions. Positions 33–36 are filled by the four drivers that posted the fastest lap in pole qualifying that didn't lock in a position in the Duel's. Positions 37–40 are set by the four cars highest in the 2015 owner's points that didn't lock in a position in the Duels and weren't among the cars that posted the four fastest timed laps in pole qualifying.

### Race 1

Dale Earnhardt Jr. put on a clinic leading 43 of 60 laps on his way to scoring his fifth Can-Am Duel race victory. He said that it was "real special. I try not to make too big a deal, but I was thinking about that. I'm guilty of daydreaming a bit about winning this race tonight because of the date. That's very special to me, and I was glad that nothing bad happened, we didn't tear our car up, because that would have been embarrassing on a day like this." Michael McDowell raced his way into the Daytona 500 while Cole Whitt failed to make the race. He said that there was indeed "a lot going on in the off-season. Obviously there was a lot of unknowns with the charter, what was going to happen with that. There was a time where we felt like we were going to be in a tough spot, you know, that we weren't sure if we were going to be able to compete this year at all, whether an open car or charter car. Luckily we were able to put together the partnership with RCR, that alliance. Switching over to Chevy helped strengthen our position there. With Thrivent Financial and KLOVE and all our partners coming onboard, all our sponsors coming onboard, really partnering with Joe Falk at Circle Sport, allowed us to say…”

### Race 2

Kyle Busch led 35 of 60 laps to score his third career Can-Am Duel win. He joked that his "plan was just to have everybody stay single-file and we take the checkered flag, but they didn’t see things the way I did." The race ended under caution after a multi-car wreck on the final lap in turn 1 that collected Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex, Jr. Jamie McMurray said he "was trying to block the 48 (Jimmie Johnson). I had stalled out right when I got to the 18 car (Kyle Busch), and I didn’t think the 48 had much of a run either. It felt like our momentum was about the same. I saw the replay and I still don’t know if he was up to my rear bumper or if it was the air that made his car turn. I’m just not sure.” Johnson said that McMurray "was trying to get underneath the 18 and that didn’t work out, and I creeped up to his outside. He moved up quickly to defend that. I could tell I was going to be taken up into the wall. I tried getting out of there but kind of got into the fence, skipped off the wall and spun out in front of everybody. It was a lot gone wrong, I guess. It’s not like anything was intentional. It’s just a bummer to tear up a car after taking the white flag in a car that we tried so hard to protect and make so fast. There was just a lot gone wrong.” Robert Richardson, Jr. transferred into the Daytona 500 while David Gilliland and Reed Sorenson failed to make the race. He said that he was "very, very honored to be a part of BK Racing, having another opportunity to run here at the Daytona 500. I’ve been in it once before, but this one is very, very special to me. My wife and I welcomed our brand-new baby boy who was born in early December. Every bit of earnings we get from this race is going to go into a college fund for him. It’s just the good Lord looking down on us and blessing us. Got to give all the glory to Him.”

## Practice (post-Duel)

### Sixth practice (February 19)

Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the sixth practice session with a time of 46.372 seconds and a speed of 194.083 mph (312.346 km/h).

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### Seventh practice (February 19)

Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the seventh practice session with a time of 45.077 seconds and a speed of 199.658 mph (321.318 km/h).

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### Final practice (February 20)

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 45.655 seconds and a speed of 197.131 mph (317.252 km/h).

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## Race

Denny Hamlin beat Martin Truex Jr. by 1/100th of a second to win the 2016 edition of the Great American Race at Daytona. The win, Hamlin’s first in the Daytona 500, resulted from a last lap pass out of turns three and four that took the number 11 Toyota from fourth to first coming to the checkered flag. The amazing finish was even more remarkable considering that passes for the top spot were at a premium all day. Only 20 lead changes among 15 drivers occurred during the 200 lap event, with several of those changes happening during caution periods as cars pitted for tires and gas. Hamlin led four times for a race-high total of 95 laps.

Favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed on lap 169 and finished 36th; another pre-race favorite, Joey Logano, was the highest placing Ford Fusion ending the day in 6th place. Logano was the only Ford to finish in the top 10. Aric Almirola, in the Richard Petty Ford number 43, made a late race charge from 29th to 12th passing a number of cars on the last lap sprint to the finish line. Fusion drivers Ryan Blaney, in the Wood Brother’s Ford and Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski, finished 19th and 20th respectively to round out what was a disappointing day for the Ford drivers.

### Race statistics

* 20 lead changes among 15 different drivers
* 6 cautions for 31 laps
* Time of race: 3 hours, 10 minutes, 25 seconds
* Average speed: 157.549 mph (253.551 km/h)
* Difference between 1st and 2nd: 0.01 seconds

#### Race awards

* **Coors Light Pole Award**: Chase Elliott (45.845, 196.314 mph (315.937 km/h))
* **American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award**: Paul Menard
* **Duralast Brakes "Bake In The Race" Award**: Kyle Busch
* **Ingersoll Rand Power Move**: Michael McDowell (16 positions)
* **MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race**: Toyota Racing Development, #11
* **Mobil 1 Driver of the Race**: Denny Hamlin (139.1 driver rating)
* **Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of The Race**: Carl Edwards (crew chief Dave Rogers (0.239 seconds))
* **NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus**: No winner: rolls over to $20,000 at next event
* **Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap**: A. J. Allmendinger
* **Sunoco Rookie of The Race**: Ryan Blaney

## Media

### Television

See also: NASCAR on television and radio#Beyond the United States
Since 2001 – with the exception of 2002, 2004 and 2006 – the Daytona 500 has been carried by Fox in the United States. The booth crew consisted of longtime NASCAR lap-by-lap announcer Mike Joy, three-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon, and 1989 race winner Darrell Waltrip. Pit road was manned by Jamie Little, Chris Neville, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum.

### Radio

The race was broadcast on radio by the Motor Racing Network – which has covered the Daytona 500 since 1970 – and simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. The booth crew consisted of longtime announcer Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and 1989 Sprint Cup Series champion Rusty Wallace. Longtime turn announcer – and prodigy of MRN co-founder Ken Squier – Dave Moody was the lead turn announcer. He called the Daytona 500 from atop the Sunoco tower outside the exit of turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley worked the backstretch for the Daytona 500 from a spotter's stand on the inside of the track. Kyle Rickey called the Daytona 500 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4 from the Sunoco tower outside the exit of turn 4. On pit road, MRN was manned by lead pit reporter and NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley. He was joined on pit road by Steve Post and Alex Hayden.

 **Lead announcer:** Joe Moore**Announcer:** Jeff Striegle**Announcer:** Rusty Wallace | **Turns 1 & 2:** Dave Moody**Backstretch:** Mike Bagley**Turns 3 & 4:** Kyle Rickey | Alex HaydenWinston KelleySteve Post

## Notes

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex, Jr., A. J. Allmendinger and Brian Scott started from the rear of the field after going to a backup car post-qualifying.

## References

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