Blaney gained the race’s second stage however in the end completed thirtieth, a a lot lower than desired starting to his quest for a championship repeat.
Finest: Corey LaJoie ties career-best end with sturdy top-5
There’s at all times these shock finishers within the Daytona 500, and on Monday, maybe the largest of these was Corey LaJoie. The second-generation driver tied his career-best Cup Sequence end of fourth, a consequence he achieved twice in 2023 — each occasions on superspeedways.
LaJoie did not simply out of the blue seem on the entrance, both. He ran inside the highest 10 for almost all of the race’s third and ultimate stage, and briefly led on Lap 151.
Worst: Carson Hocevar’s first 500 lasts 5 laps, finishes final to begin rookie marketing campaign
One driver who didn’t have a promising begin to the 2024 season was LaJoie’s Spire Motorsports teammate Carson Hocevar, who completed in dead-last after being caught up within the race’s first accident 5 laps into the motion.
John Hunter Nemechek bought circled by Brad Keselowski, amassing Hocevar and Harrison Burton. Burton then spun again into site visitors and caught up a number of extra vehicles, together with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
A lot of the wrecked autos had been capable of proceed, however the promising rookie wasn’t one in every of them. Higher luck subsequent week.
Finest: Todd Gilliland reveals velocity, doubles profession laps led mark
Of the 20 drivers who led the Daytona 500, one of the stunning was Todd Gilliland, who was in entrance for 16 circuits, trailing solely Joey Logano and Christopher Bell within the laps led column.
Coming into the race, Gilliland had solely led 11 laps in his Cup Sequence profession. He did not lead on the line a single time in 2023, and his earlier race-high within the statistic was 5. He greater than tripled that on Monday, and greater than doubled his prior cumulative whole.
Although he ultimately crashed out and completed thirty fifth, Gilliland needs to be happy along with his Daytona efficiency.
Worst: Michael McDowell’s Entrance Row begin turns bitter with engine woes
Very like Spire, Entrance Row Motorsports’ success with one driver didn’t translate to the remainder of the staff. Kaz Grala was wrecked out within the Lap 5 incident along with Hocevar and Michael McDowell, who began on the surface pole and led six laps early on, started to endure from engine points late within the first stage.
McDowell completed the race, limping round whereas down on energy all through the remainder of the motion, however he ended up 24 laps down in thirty sixth place. Not the begin to the season that he was on the lookout for.
