Joey Logano took advantage of a last-lap wreck between race leader Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski to seize the lead and win the Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona International Speedway.
Logano was in third when Keselowski dove beneath Hamlin for the lead. They sideswiped each other in Turn 2, sending Hamlin spinning through the field untouched.
The field slowed to avoid Hamlin, allowing Logano to put enough distance between him and second place, which Kyle Busch captured over Alex Bowman.
Danica Patrick finished fourth.
“Kind of was in the right place at the right time,” Logano told FS1. “Brad was going to make the move, and I was just going to follow him through. When I saw (Hamlin) coming down, I immediately went to the top. The writing was written on the wall what was going to happen.”
The accident between Hamlin (race-high 48 laps led) and and Keselowski (18) involved the drivers who started on the front row and led the most laps in the 75-lap race.
The Clash win is Logano’s first in nine starts in the exhibition race. It is Ford’s first win in the Clash since 2004.
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Danica Patrick was the highest-finishing Stewart-Haas Racing driver in the team’s first race with Ford. Kevin Harvick was fifth. … Daniel Suarez spent much of the second segment in second place behind Hamlin and finished eighth in his first start in a Cup car. … Chris Buescher finished ninth after being involved in an earlier accident with Martin Truex Jr.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Kurt Busch was the first DNF after he was turned into the outside wall by Jimmie Johnson on Lap 18. … Johnson wrecked out on Lap 49 when he spun on his own exiting Turn 4 and hit the inside wall. … Truex brought out the caution on Lap 59 after contact with Kyle Larson sent him spinning into the wall in Turn 3. Truex finished 15th … Larson finished 14th after being sent to the garage on Lap 64 for having too many men over the wall in the pits following the Truex accident. “It is an odd way to be done I guess,” Larson said. “But this race doesn’t matter for points.”
NOTABLE: Johnson has not finished better than 14th in the Clash since 2011.
Quote of the Day: “It is the Clash, it’s not the (Daytona) 500 and I guarantee (Denny Hamlin) knows and everyone else who is watching today that I’m going to make that move again.” – Brad Keselowski after his move for the win ended in a last-lap crash with Denny Hamlin.
