Daytona 500 race recap: Austin Cindric beats Bubba Wallace in Daytona 500 photo finish
DAYTONA BEACH — Well, folks ... as they say, it's time to put up or shut up!
After weeks of buildup, the 64th Daytona 500 went green today at Daytona International Speedway, with Kyle Larson leading the field into Turn 1. Alex Bowman, Larson's Hendrick teammate, started alongside Larson on the front row.
Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher started in Row 2 after winning their Daytona Duels last Thursday.
Luke Combs sang the pre-race concert, while Trace Adkins performed the national anthem and Charles Woodson gave the command to start engines.
Today's NASCAR Cup race ran set for, you guessed it, 500 miles and 200 laps.
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6:45 p.m. | Austin Cindric beats Bubba Wallace in Daytona 500 photo finish
Wow!
Austin Cindric beat Bubba Wallace by just a nose - literally - to win the 64th Daytona 500.
Cindric, 23, is a NASCAR Cup Series rookie for Team Penske racing. Cindric went high to block Ryan Blaney coming to the checkers. The two made contact, opening the door low for Wallace.
Cindric went low, made contact with Wallace, and the two raced to the stripe side by side.
Cindric's No. 2 just barely edged Wallace for the 500 victory.
6:35 p.m. | Brad Keselowski gets into Ricky Stenhouse Jr., brings out caution with 5 to go
Brad Keselowski gave Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a big shove on Lap 196 and sent Stenhouse into the wall hard, bringing out the caution with 5 to go.
Stenhouse Jr. was the leader during a restart with 7 to go, and was fighting for the lead from the top lane when Keselowski gave him the push.
Chris Buescher was also involved. Bubba Wallace's No. 23 also suffered some damage.
Austin Cindric is your race leader, followed by Ryan Blaney.
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6:25 p.m. | Daytona 500 under red flag with 10 to go
Kevin Harvick got turned around crossing the checkers with 10 to go, bringing several cars with him in the third big wreck of the day.
Kyle Larson was involved, as was Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson and Erik Jones.
Larson, with a huge run, got into the back of Harvick and started the chaos.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continues to lead as the field has gone under a red flag.
6:15 p.m. |Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leads Daytona 500 with 15 to go
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the summer race at Daytona in 2017, leads the 500 with 15 laps to go. Chris Buescher is in second, followed by polesitter Kyle Larson as the field is currently single file.
6 p.m. | Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric lead Daytona 500 with 30 to go
Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric continue to battle for the lead with 30 laps to go. Kyle Busch is pushing Wallace while Ryan Blaney continues to shove Cindric.
The bottom lane, led by Cindric and Blaney, appears to have the upper hand right now as the high line has begin to fall back.
5:40 p.m. | Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. involved in Stage 3 wreck
Another big wreck has put the Daytona 500 under yellow with 49 laps to go.
Tyler Reddick's No. 8 machine took the brunt of the damage, while Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch also suffered damage.
Reddick got loose coming down the frontstretch and went spinning hard into the wall. Logano and Busch went spinning through the grass, while Truex Jr., who won the first two stages, has damage to the front of his Toyota.
Brad Keselowski continues to lead.
5:15 p.m. | Martin Truex Jr. passes Logano late for Stage 2 win
Martin Truex Jr. got a huge run coming to the checkers and passed Joey Logano to win his second straight stage in Sunday's Daytona 500.
Logano finished second, followed by Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Todd Gilliland.
5 p.m. | Brad Keselowski leads as Fords take over Stage 2
Ryan Blaney and a group of Fords led the early part of Stage 2, but that group hit pit road with 92 to go.
Brad Keselowski has inherited the lead with 20 to go in the second stage, followed by teammate Chris Buescher and Blaney.
Chase Elliott, meanwhile, stalled on pit road but has returned to the track 22nd on the lead lap.
4:15 p.m. | Daytona 500 wreck collects Harrison Burton, Kyle Busch, William Byron and Denny Hamlin
Chaos!
Coming to the end of Stage 1, Brad Keselowski gave rookie Harrison Burton too big of a shove going for the lead, sending Burton sideways into William Byron. Burton went on his hood briefly before coming back down.
Byron went hard into the wall, taking Kyle Busch with him. Denny Hamlin, Byron, Busch and Burton all suffered major damage. Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain's cars also took heavy damage.
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"I don't know what we could have done different," Burton said. "We'll move on and get better from it."
Eight cares in all were involved.
Martin Truex Jr. went on to win Stage 1 under caution.
4 p.m. | Multiple tire issues plague first stage of Daytona 500
Kaz Grala lost a right rear tire and then JJ Yeley's right front wheel appeared to break a few laps later, bringing out the second caution of the day.
Kyle Busch continues to lead Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and William Byron with 12 to go in Stage 1.
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3:45 p.m. | Kaz Grala, Floyd Mayweather driver, involved in early 500 wreck
Kaz Grala, driving the No. 50 for Floyd Mayweather's team, lost a right rear tire and spun coming off Turn 2 on Lap 40 of Sunday's Daytona 500. Chase Briscoe was also involved, brining out the first caution of the day.
Kyle Busch leads, followed by Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin.
3:30 p.m. | Brad Keselowski dominant in early portions of Daytona 500
Brad Keselowski won his Daytona Duel and has led all but one lap of today's Daytona 500 through the first 23 laps.
Austin Cindric is second, followed by Chris Buescher and defending champ Michael McDowell.
3:06 p.m. | Daytona 500 goes green
Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman led the field of 40 into Turn 1 just after 3:06 Sunday to officially drop the green flag on the 2022 NASCAR season.
Stage 1 of this year's race is scheduled for 65 laps. The Nos. 14, 16, 22 and 27 all went to back of the field.
1:30 p.m. | Daytona 500 weather report
After a couple years of Mother Nature winning this battle, it appears we're going to conquer her today.
Conditions are darn near perfect for today's race, with highs in the low-70s and a sun-soaked sky. Winds will be out of the northeast at 5-15 mph.
And while we never say never around here, the chance of rain today is about as high as getting through the actual race without any wrecks.
1:30 p.m. | Daytona 500 starting lineup
1. Kyle Larson
2. Alex Bowman
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Chris Buescher
5. Austin Cindric
6. Michael McDowell
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Harrison Burton
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Kyle Busch
11. Chase Elliott
12. Christopher Bell
13. Erik Jones
14. Martin Truex Jr.
15. Tyler Reddick
16. Bubba Wallace
17. Kurt Busch
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
19. Ross Chastain
20. Joey Logano
21. Daniel Suarez
22. Kevin Harvick
23. William Byron
24. Corey LaJoie
25. Justin Haley
26. Ty Dillon
27. Landon Cassill
28. Greg Biffle
29. Todd Gilliland
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Cole Custer
32. Cody Ware
33. Daniel Hemric
34. David Ragan
35. Kaz Grala
36. Austin Dillon
37. BJ McLeod
38. Aric Almirola
39. Noah Gragson
40. Jacques Villeneuve
How to watch Daytona 500
Today's race is on Fox (2:30 p.m.) and will also be streamed on Foxsports.com (TV provider needed), YouTube TV (2-week free trial), Hulu + Live TV (7-day free trial), fuboTV (7-day free trial), DirecTV Stream (5-day free trial).