In the biggest upset in the last decade of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, Trevor Bayne won Sunday’s Daytona 500 in only his second career Sprint Cup start.
Bayne, driving the legendary Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford, took the lead after Unadilla, Georgia’s David Ragan was penalized for an inproper restart on the first of two green-white-checkered attempts.
Then, with Bobby Labonte in tow, Bayne pulled ahead on the final green-white-checkered attempt and beat the fast-charging two-car tandem of Carl Edwards and David Gilliland to the finish. Labonte finished fourth, while Kurt Busch, seeking to become the first driver to win the Bud Shootout, a Gatorade Duel qualifying race, and the Daytona 500 all in one Speedweeks, finished fifth.
The victory is the first in nearly a decade for the Wood Brothers, who last won at Bristol in March 2001 with Elliott Sadler behind the wheel. The oldest continually-operating team in NASCAR’s top division scored its fith triumph in the Daytona 500, with Bayne joining NASCAR legends Tiny Lund, Marvin Panch, AJ Foyt, and David Pearson as men who took the famous No. 21 to victory lane in the Great American Race.