Michael McDowell achieves incredible feat by winning NASCAR's Daytona 500 | Motorsports on NBC

legato lee is in the back immediately keslowski is in line now he spins it boom team penske carts crash keslowski is in a fireball towards the outside wall he will take kyle busch with him everyone now runs out of the corner in a crash horrible on the last lap of the Daytona 500. The yellow flag is on the track. The yellow flag is on the track. We'll wait and see who was the race leader when the caution flag came out. We are now getting word from Nascar about the winner of the 63rd race of the Daytona 500 is, in fact, Michael Mcdowell, you can go ahead and celebrate now.

I am very grateful. It's such a great way to get a first Daytona 500 victory. Are you kidding? Oh man, and that was the winner. Michael Mcdowell, the winner of the Daytona 500. great American race first career win and 358 starts this is splash and go steve latarte here dale jarrett jeff burton so guys there's a lot to unpack 500 miles from the high shores of Daytona um we've seen a lot of Daytona 500s y'all They look different, this one looked different, but we have to start with the guy standing in victory lane at the end, Mike Mcdowell, first career win, DJ, I'm coming to you, you were there before

winning

this race several times, how

incredible

.

Was it for this young man to go to victory lane? Yes, it was an

incredible

feat

for Michael Mcdowell. You know he's been at this a long time and we all knew that when you go to the Super Speedway races he has. He's been a factor that a lot of times he just couldn't put it all together and the more you saw him in the mix there and the laps were calming down, you knew that somehow he was going to have a hand in who he was. He was going to win the Daytona 500, but could he make the right moves and obviously he did?

This is a life changing experience. I can tell you from that first Daytona 500 so many things changed after I won in '93 it was just incredible and

michael

mcdowell

will reap those rewards too and just a well earned and hard fought victory he ran out front almost all night after They came back to compete, after the accident and the rain, so he did a great job. And it's always nice to see someone who you don't really expect when you start the race, who could end up in victory lane, have that opportunity and take advantage of the situation, so Jeff, I don't want to call him a surprise winner. because he runs ahead, hell, I had him in my fantasy line, but a 71 long shot in Vegas, so the booker in Vegas, who normally has great odds, they had him as a long shot, the long shot went to the victory lane, yeah, well, me.

I mean, listen, it's a long shot, but this isn't completely unexpected. I mean, this is a surprise, but it's not, you know, a big surprise to people in the industry who actually pay attention to these careers. You see Michael Mcdowell, you see front row motorsport racing. Well, in this type of racing, they got into position, got good speed until Daytona. I think you really have to give them credit for the speed they had at Daytona. The job. Michael Mcdowell did the job. The pit crew did it. Everyone did it to put themselves in a position to be there to win that race, some other drivers and teams couldn't do it, so I'm just saying give credit to that team.

I do not think it's fair. Let's say, well, it's Daytona tower day, you get these big accidents, uh, yeah, you get those things, but he was there the whole race, they got into position, they didn't make any mistakes, they did whatever it took to be there. When necessary, I mean, that is. where he was there, no one told him he earned that track position, just great work all night by those guys and it was a surprise, but it's not a total surprise just because of how well and how much effort they put into these races at Daytona Talladega take advantage when you can, you mentioned big crashes, I really think Big Rex and the big opening crash on lap 14.

We expect big crashes, but DJ this wrecked so many cars so early, I think it changed the feel of this race every race speedway has a different feel, almost like it was a living thing, this one changed dramatically from the beginning, yes, and mainly because it happened at the front of the group, you had eric almarola sitting there pushing his teammate at the time, kevin harvick . and apparently everything went on as usual at the beginning of the race even though they were too wide, it seemed pretty calm but just a push from Christopher Bell that was a little too strong, maybe at that time, especially at the time of the race ended up creating this huge accident of which

michael

mcdowell

was a part and also his team did an excellent job.

Let's not say, Jeff, that you mentioned that it took everyone to do this for this to happen. His team did a good job repairing the right side of that particular car from some damage it received in that accident but it took out a lot of the challengers that we thought would be there ryan blaney eric almarola had obviously won one of the duels uh and so many others cars and drivers We thought we were going to be part of the mix and suddenly, as a driver who got lost, your mindset has completely changed now okay, what do we have to do?

We have far fewer cars and drivers to deal with. Here, how do we get to the end of this 500 mile race and put ourselves in a position to be a factor in this? So we saw a lot of maneuvering throughout the race, pit stops and a lot of racing at the end of the two stages, uh, but certainly after having an accident like that, a five-hour rain delay, your mentality as a driver is completely different as to how I can give myself a chance in this shortened field, well, a driver who avoided that accident and had Lo as a favorite because, oh, he won the last two Daytona 500s with Denny Hamlin, misses Jeff's accident in lap 14 and then he takes control of the race, I mean basically, in my opinion, he's never guaranteed to win, but if he had. position, he was leading and dictating the group, so, as I told you, Jeff Denny Hamlin dominates until the last pit stops, explain to me what did you see?

Where did Denny Hamlin lose control of this race because in those last few laps he was behind? from that leading group, yeah, you know, listen, it's a tough call to get a win in the pits and it's not that easy, a lot of people think that you want to pick with a big big group because that helps your speed when you come out of the pits completely. I don't agree with that, I think it's better to stop with a smaller group, but with Denny and his team they waited a long time to get to pit road, which allowed the other groups to generate some energy and he went out and It was essentially everything. by himself, you know, the Toyotas came into the pits and he just didn't have enough people, so when the pack caught him, they were going a lot faster, there was just no way he could keep up and on that and I also want to say this In all of that, Joey Logano actually passed Kevin Harvick on pit road.

The speed of him entering pit road was incredible if you go back and watch how joey logano left everyone behind him and then also passed kevin harvick to enter pit road. he gave him the lead that put him in control of the race, so the green flag pit stops changed him completely. It took all of Denny Hammond's momentum to put him behind and Joey Legato went and took him and now he's controlling the race and everything. That happened with green flag pit stops, yes, execution in and out of pit road, two tires, gas only when you come, I'm with you Jeff, I like to stop early and I don't care about the size of the group, but I want to be one. of the first cars on Pet Road that was always a bit of an eye opener for me, I was driving in the wrong direction you mentioned joey logano passing kevin harvick that's a big deal dj because then those last 20 laps single file around the top I started on my sofa then I was standing then I was walking back and forth then I did it because I knew it was coming we've seen this before we heard the Fox broadcast jeff gordon clint moyer kept positioning who was going to make the move I was surprised they waited until the last lap, I thought we were going to see someone in the middle of the pack make a move with five or six to go, I guess the number of cars, but take me through those final laps and take me through the big move in the back stretch that led to the fiery accident yeah well I'm going to back up just a second to add a little bit on those pit stops so Screen Flag angry Kevin Harvick did a masterful job of waiting and not allowing the Toyotas to maybe pit , uh, when the four of them were going to have that advantage.

They were all together, he waited until he was three, he drug the rest of his four teammates with him to pit and the Toyotas didn't stand a chance at that point, so the Chevrolets made sure to leave those Toyotas out there, they knew . who was the best car and driver in this and that was danny hamlin and they had to find a way to put him in the back and they were able to do it and then when they came back he had the opportunity to do it. time there to get to fifth or sixth place, he tried to go too far and ended up at the end of that line, so this leaves Joey Logano who did that great job of getting in and out of the pits in control and I think Harvick was sitting there thinking i could get a little help from brad kelsowski or michael mcdowell whenever those moves started, but i was really surprised that the chevrolets didn't pull out and start making things happen and i think guinea hamlin alluded to that in his interview after the race that he thought once they started mixing things up, if they went, he could make some things happen that never materialized and that left him hanging there and then it was up to Brad Kezowski who uh, the drug addict , Michael Mcdowell, back, had a great race against Harvick on the backstretch and got to second and then on the last lap you wondered how aggressive Brad was going to be.

I thought about this for a second, how aggressive he could be and trying to pass. his teammate, but then I thought that Brad had never won the 500 that he was looking to do, that he had talked a lot about it, that he was going to do whatever it took, unfortunately, Joey went to make that block and then, uh, he broke out hell from that point. really hard hits, I'm glad everyone was okay, but it made me sit back and think and wonder if he's really blocking the right thing at that moment because we've seen in the last few races that this hasn't worked for the leader of the race to block I'm almost to the point where I think okay, if someone makes that move, let's let them have that spot and hope someone comes to push me and that gives me a better chance to win, but it was very entertaining. those last five laps, yes, I would like to comment that I agree with you a thousand percent, you know what you know, it tells me that you are right and that you say that it is the Daytona 500 from last year.

Go back and look at what Denny Hamlin did. Didn't he make that block and crash? He lived to fight another two corners and then ended up

winning

the race. I think you're absolutely right. I think it is very difficult to make that decision. Do not block. There's a right time to block at the wrong time to block when they come so fast when you're putting yourself and them in danger uh very difficult decision but just go back and watch the Daytona 500 last year Denny Hamlin didn't put himself in that place gave up, recruited the hell out of them to retire him and ends up winning the race, so he's a great DJ and I'm actually keeping him in mind too.

Listen, I've been the guy who blocked and caused a big accident and it's going to happen again at Talladega and it's going to happen again at Daytona, but I really think you need to start thinking about what's the smartest thing to do in that situation. Well it was a long day of racing, a long day with the rain but in the end a big crash on the last lap put michael mcdowell in victory lane a 36 year old man from glendale arizona became driver number 40 to win the Daytona 500 it was an incredible day an incredible week of racing in Daytona but all the racing was not in the super bowl of auto racing, the world speed center in Daytona, about 40 or 50 miles away for a supercross in Orlando, where we saw an incredible and brave performance from a 250 rider, here's this week's

motorsports

uniting moment, wow, look. at the cross between chris and craig, which was a perfectly timed pass, you can see jett lawrence appearing on your screen and he's had a bit of oh wow, he's down , it's all good, oh and he comes up a little short and gets high and gets kicked off the side of the bike, I think he knows it's no good, they'll try it right now.

Christian Craig is on the line but he was suffering a lot when he was back in the truck and he's going to bea tough night for him, but hey, when you're in a championship position like he's six points down, you've got to go for it, check it out. for christian craig, the story now gets a little better. It's moving on to the main thing, we can't stress enough what a phenomenal effort this is on Christian Craig's part, still doing exactly what he needs to do, he'll be able to have a two month break. Weeks off so I can heal and come to Salt Lake City and make one last effort to try to win this championship.

You see there an image of Christian Craig's hand. The story comes from maybe I want to say I'm not sure what the damage is. guys, but it's a horrible accident when you see a horrible look on that hand, but talk about a brave performance that collapses in his series, winning the lcq coming back in the main our friend lee diffie ricky carmichael on the call, so dj, I'm going to ask him, as an athlete competing with an injury, how impressive the performance was, which was just an incredible story and for this young man to have gone through what he did there, it's just incredible, you know, we can talk about Jeff.

We both raced, with injuries, driving a car, but doing what he did on that bike, with the jumps, everything he had to do. through a new hero for me, I mean what this young man did just with incredible strength, uh, and when you talk about athletes who have mind over matter, that's a perfect example and he did everything he needed to, I don't know how he did it. He endured all the pain, but he made it possible. He has given himself the opportunity to win the championship, in just over two months. Yeah, I was really impressed seeing Adam like there was no way he could do that and he ran. that lcq and I ended up winning that and then he goes out and gets third in the future.

I didn't think there was any way you could do that. It was incredible for me. It shows that with preparation, with desire and preparation, those two things. it connected what they can allow you to do he just had to do it i knew he had to do it but he was prepared to do it both physically and emotionally and it was amazing to see someone step up. I love seeing people step up. in the big moments that's what sports are about, that's why you see them well, you want to see those big moments and you see a guy when he's down and he recovers, that's what I love about sports and it was a lot of fun to watch.

Saturday night well, great performances build a fan base. I have my 450 favorites, but now I also have a 250 favorite. Christian Craig will be one I'll be watching after that gutsy performance. Well, guys, the Daytona 500 is in the rearview mirror looking ahead. We have the road course at Daytona in a week, but we'll be back on Wednesday. We will have Parker Kligerman, K.P. Burton. I think you'll come back to take another dip and go where we looked at the trail. Of course, it's been a lot of fun. The season is underway. It will be a great season in Nascar.

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