Photo – AMS
The 58th Daytona 500 belonged to Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing and now teams are heading to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 on Sunday.
Drivers competing with the Chevrolet bow tie showed some promise up front early at Daytona with four of their drivers finishing in the top-ten. The blue Ford oval put one driver in the top-ten and that was now former Daytona 500 champion, Joey Logano.
Ruling the World Center of Racing at Daytona was Toyota as the most successful manufacturer with three drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing finishing in the top-five. So, with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams heading into Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, it makes sense that JGR drivers dominate the hottest drivers to watch list.
- Denny Hamlin: After winning his third career Sprint Unlimited with new crew chief Mike Wheeler, Hamlin would not be denied his first Daytona 500 win. Hamlin led a career best 95 laps, and became the sixth driver to win both races in the same year. All it took was a push from Kevin Harvick on the last lap to move Matt Kenseth over and beat Martin Truex Jr to the finish line. Hamlin’s first Daytona 500 win is truly the best start of his career.
- Martin Truex Jr: Say what you want about losing the Daytona 500 by 0.010 seconds, it was a heartbreak for Truex, But taking a positive high road, for Truex second-place is his best Daytona 500 finish. Furniture Row Racing and Truex are grateful for the JGR alliance bringing them to Toyota. Their partnership allowed Truex to stay competitive, despite starting at the back of the field. At the end of the race, he was nearly flawless, holding off Hamlin in the race to the checkered flag. The No. 78 now has the best start of its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career sitting second in points.
- Kyle Busch: The defending Sprint Cup Series champion was looking for redemption after missing last year’s Daytona 500 due to his accident racing with the XFINITY Series last year. Enjoying his fame as Sprint Cup champion, Busch has shown more poise in light of coming up short for the win. Leading the third most laps with 19, Busch stayed in the top-five throughout the race, along with Truex. His third-place finish in the Great American Race is his best, so he’s off to a hot start defending his title.
- Matt Kenseth: No doubt the two-time defending champion was well on his way to winning his third Daytona 500 and his first with JGR, but everything came down to that last-minute push of Hamlin from Harvick. Even with the Hamlin-Kenseth clip in the last lap, it was all in the heat of the moment and Kenseth was understanding and positive about how it all came down during post-race interviews. Losing his primary car in Duel Two and using his backup to race from the back, shows that Kenseth is one of the élite drivers of NASCAR, despite a 14th-place finish.
- Joey Logano: The 2015 champion was unable to lead a lap due to Toyota’s extreme performance, but he did manage to get as high as second and finish sixth. Logano was the lone Team Penske and top-finishing Ford driver able to hang with JGR throughout the race. The near repeat performance was enough to say that Logano is racing like a veteran and able to compete with the best.
While Hendrick Motor Sports showed some promise early, their teams ran into some bad luck, with Kasey Kahne finishing at 13th – the team’s best result of the day. Dale Earnhardt Jr and Chase Elliott lost to ‘Calamity Corner’ as Mike Joy said on the FOX broadcast, finishing 37th and 36th. Jimmie Johnson’s bad luck came with a pit road penalty late in the race, leaving him with a 16th-place finish. All three led for a total of 33 laps, but now they must show they have more than speed to stay out of trouble.
How Hendrick teams (Chevrolet) will do against JGR teams (Toyota) will now play out at Atlanta. Johnson may have a hard time as the defending winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway as he attempts a repeat this weekend.
Watch the Sprint Cup Series race the Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, February 28th on FOX at 1 pm ET.