Kyle Larson Was Brilliant at Atlanta. Then He Turned Left
After leading a career-best 48 laps on a drafting track, the defending champ tried to shortcut Stage 2—and instead short-circuited his afternoon.
After leading a career-best 48 laps on a drafting track, the defending champ tried to shortcut Stage 2—and instead short-circuited his afternoon.
A crooked exit off Turn 2, a hard shove from behind, and suddenly the veteran was done for the day—and done being polite.
Let’s face it: the Daytona 500 doesn’t often behave like a movie.
Bubba Wallace led the most laps, dodged the carnage, and lined up perfectly for the final restart—then the Daytona 500 reminded him that “perfect” means absolutely nothing.
Justin Allgaier had already survived two skirmishes and muscled his way to the front of the Daytona 500. Then he threw a late block on Denny Hamlin—and Daytona responded by rearranging 20 cars at once.
If you were looking for subtlety in the 68th running of the Daytona 500, you brought the wrong binoculars.
The new O’Reilly Auto Parts era didn’t begin with calm authority — it began with a pileup before the start line, escalated into a red-flag mess, and somehow ended with Austin Hill standing tall over the wreckage.
Chandler Smith wasn’t leading off Turn 4 in overtime, but a perfectly timed shove turned a four-wide brawl into a .044-second Daytona triumph.
One Duel detonated, the other behaved, and somehow the Daytona 500 field emerged intact.
Daytona delivered drama before a single lap was raced—and Kyle Busch walked away with the best seat in the house.