NASCAR driver Austin Dillon speaks with the media during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 Media Day at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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Austin Dillon aims to win back-to-back Daytona 500s

Last year’s dramatic last-lap win of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 produced one of the most talked about finishes in recent memory. Driving the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for his grandfather Richard Childress – the same car that the late Dale Earnhardt won the 500 with in 1998 – Austin Dillon maneuvered past final-lap contact to take the checkered flag.

This year he will try to become only the fourth driver in history to win back-to-back Daytona 500s. The last time it happened was 1994-95 with Sterling Marlin – the first two Cup Series victories of Marlin’s career. Only three drivers in history have won back-to-back Daytona 500s – joining Marlin are Richard Petty (1973-74) and Cale Yarborough (1983-84).

This year marks the 50th season of NASCAR competition for Childress. He’d like to start the anniversary celebration with a second straight Daytona win. He’s fielding cars for Dillon and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Daniel Hemric, as well as reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion and Xfinity Series full-time driver Tyler Reddick, who is scheduled to make a few Cup starts in 2019. The last team owner to win consecutive Daytona 500s was Rick Hendrick with drivers Jimmie Johnson (2013) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2014).

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Aric Almirola. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Almost for Aric Almirola

As the only Florida native in the 2018 Daytona 500 field, Tampa’s Aric Almirola came one lap away from winning the sport’s greatest race last year. After taking the white flag and holding off the field, Almirola’s No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang was hit by Austin Dillon’s No 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on the back straightaway, spinning Almirola out and sending Dillon on to take the checkered flag.

It was a heart-breaking finish for Almirola, who was making his first start for the Stewart-Haas Racing team. But the strong run in the Daytona 500 was a harbinger of good things to come. Almirola qualified for the Playoffs, won a Playoff race at Talladega, Ala. and ultimately finished a career-high fifth in the Monster Energy Series final points standings – ahead of all drivers except the Championship 4 contenders.

“Did I ever have a moment where behind closed doors I stomped my feet and hit some things?  Maybe,’’ Almirola said with a smile this week at Daytona International Speedway. “In that time, in that moment, it was more important for me to go out and be a good representation for my sponsors and my partners and my kids.

“My kids were sitting back in my motorhome watching on TV like the rest of the world, so at that time it was an opportunity for me to be a good role model for my kids. You’ve got to be a good sport and sometimes things don’t always go your way. You’ve got two choices. You can either keep your head high and take the high road, or you can pout and piss and moan and the sponsors usually like the first one.

Almirola conceded, however, that the performance did set the tone for the 2018 season – a career year as it turned out.

“I think one thing that we took away from the Daytona 500 is we instantly, in the very first race, all had confidence in each other,’’ Almirola said. “New driver to the team.  New crew chief, Johnny Klausmeier leading that team.  Several new guys on the team.  We’re all really young.  … That makes it fun, but there’s also a lot of growing to do and newness, so instantly in that very first race it was like, ‘Hey, we can do this.’ 

“This is only race one and they’re gonna have to deal with us the rest of the year.  This is only the beginning and we kind of fed off that and we used that as a motivator and that kept our heads down and made us just fight even harder and grind, and I think that it pulled us together.”

The Leader: Most laps led are not always a driver’s friend

The driver who has led the most laps in the Daytona 500 has only won two of the last five races (Denny Hamlin in 2016 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014). Twice in that time, a driver has led only the last lap for victory – Austin Dillon in 2018 and Kurt Busch in 2017.

Ryan Blaney’s 118 laps led last year was the most prolific time out front in the race since Davey Allison led 127 laps en route to the 1992 winner’s trophy. Since then, Blaney is the only driver to lead 100 laps or more since Tony Stewart led 107 laps in 2005. Both Blaney and Stewart finished seventh in those races.

In between those 100-lap efforts, the Busch brothers led 80 or more laps and did not win a race. Kyle Busch led 88 laps in 2009 and 86 laps in 2008. His older brother Kurt led 95 laps in 2007.

In fact, since 1993 a driver has led 100 or more laps only six times. Only twice did that result in a Daytona 500 win. Dale Earnhardt led 107 laps en route to his historic 1998 victory and Sterling Marlin led 105 laps en route to his 1995 win.

More on those leaders…

The 2016 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers in laps led in the Daytona 500. He’s been out front 267 laps, which is 12th all-time. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch is next on the list with 245 laps led. Only four active drivers are on the list of the top-25 lap leaders in the Daytona 500. Kurt Busch is ranked 19th all-time with 205 laps out front. And Jimmie Johnson is 25th on the list-leading in 10 of his 17 starts for a total of 148 laps.

The top mark in this category is – not surprisingly- held by seven-time Daytona 500 winner Richard Petty, who led 780 laps compiled in 20 of his 32 Daytona 500 starts.

William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 9, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Fireball Roberts led 170 of 200 laps in the 1961 Daytona 500 but did not win the race – the most laps led in a race without winning. Marvin Panch won the race – leading only 13 laps while Roberts ended up 20th.

Byron will battle the odds from the front

While 21-year old Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron is justifiably optimistic for his second Daytona 500 start, having earned the celebrated pole position in his No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, it’s actually been 19 years since a pole winner won the race. Dale Jarrett won the pole and the Daytona 500 in 2000.

In fact, starting first has not been a promising indicator, in recent times, of where a driver would finish. The last top-five finish in the race for a pole-winner was Bill Elliott back in 2001 when he finished fifth.

One Daytona win leads to another

While it would appear a victory in one of the races leading up to the Daytona 500 would be a key indicator of who might win the race’s iconic Harley J. Earl Trophy or even go on to a season championship, that isn’t necessarily the case. Although Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts Clash winner Jimmie Johnson would sure like to be a rare exception.

The last time a Clash winner also won the Daytona 500 was 2016 with Denny Hamlin. Only five drivers have accomplished the feat – with Dale Jarrett doing it twice – in 1996 and most recently in 2000.

The last time a Clash race winner won the Cup championship was 2002 when Tony Stewart won both the Clash and the season title.

Sunoco Rookie of the Year class outlook

This season marks yet another highly anticipated Sunoco Rookie of the Year class debut – and when it comes to the Daytona 500, a couple extra first-timers are on the list.

Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric (No 8 Chevrolet), JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece (No. 47 Chevrolet) and Front Row Motorsports’ Matt Tifft (No. 36 Ford) will highlight the full season Sunoco Rookie of the Year competition. Hemric finished runner-up in the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship while driving for Childress. Tifft finished sixth in the Xfinity Series last year. Preece, a two-time Xfinity Series race winner, makes his full-time Cup debut after five starts in 2015.

Of the newcomers, Hemric earned the best starting position in Thursday’s Gander RV Duel races to set the Daytona 500 starting lineup. All three of the rookies are in the first Duel. Hemric will start third, Preece will start 15th and Tifft rolls off 18th in the 21-car field.

None of the three have ever won a race at Daytona International Speedway.

William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, poses for a photo after winning the pole award with second place Alex Bowman, driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 10, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Hendrick Motorsports sweeps the first weekend of Speedweeks in Daytona

Hendrick Motorsports was looking to kick off 2019 in the right direction and boy, did they ever. The newest addition to the team, William Byron, grabbed the Busch Pole Award for the Daytona 500 and then the veteran on the squad, seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson followed it up with the win in the rain-shortened Advance Auto Parts Clash.

Though it was Byron’s first career pole, it was Hendrick Motorsport’s 13th Daytona 500 pole, the series’ most: Ken Schrader (1988, 1989, 1990), Jeff Gordon (1999, 2015), Jimmie Johnson (2002, 2008), Mark Martin (2010), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2011), Chase Elliott (2016, 2017), Alex Bowman (2018), William Byron (2019). On top of that, it was Hendrick Motorsport’s fifth consecutive pole for the Daytona 500 – also a series record.

The HMS organization was off to a great start last Sunday when they grabbed the pole, but the day got even better when Jimmie Johnson made a daring move to take the lead in the Advance Auto Parts Clash that resulted in him taking the win.

It was Johnson’s second win in the non-points event. In total he has made 17 starts in the Advance Auto Parts Clash posting two wins, six top fives and eight top 10s.

A total of 10 different drivers have multiple Advance Auto Parts Clash wins: Dale Earnhardt (1980, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995), Dale Jarrett (1996, 2000, 2004), Kevin Harvick (2009, 2010, 2013), Tony Stewart (2001, 2002, 2007), Denny Hamlin (2006, 2014, 2016), Neil Bonnett (1983-1984), Ken Schrader, (1989-1990), Jeff Gordon (1994 and 1997), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2003, 2008) and Jimmie Johnson (2005, 2019).

Hendrick Motorsports will look to carry the winning ways into this weekend’s Daytona 500, a race the organization has won eight times (1986, 1989, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014).

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV Duel At DAYTONA #1 at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Defending series champ looking to join elite Daytona 500 company

Joey Logano marked his name among the greats last November when he won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and earned the Monster Energy Series champion title. Now he’s looking to join another exclusive list – that of drivers who followed up a championship run with a Daytona 500 win the following February.

And it hasn’t been done in 18 seasons.

Five reigning Monster Energy Series champions have gone on to win the Daytona 500 the following season – Lee Petty (1959), Richard Petty (1973), Cale Yarborough (1977), Jeff Gordon (1999) and, most recently, Dale Jarrett (2000).

There’s another list the champ is looking to join – those who have won multiple Daytona 500 trophies. Logano captured his first in 2015.

Just 11 drivers have won the prestigious season opener more than once, led by Richard Petty’s seven victories. The most recent repeat winner was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the race in 2004 and 2014.

Open cars fighting for spots in “Great American Race”

Entering last weekend’s qualifying, 36 cars were locked into the field for the 61^st annual Daytona 500, leaving four spots to be filled.

This year, six entries – Casey Mears (No. 27 Germain Racing Chevrolet), Tyler Reddick (No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet), Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet), Joey Gase (No. 66 MBM Motorsports Toyota), Ryan Truex (No. 71 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet) and Parker Kligerman (No. 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota) – battled for those final slots.

The top two fastest times from qualifying on Sunday locked themselves in – Mears and Reddick.

That leaves Gaughan, Gase, Truex and Kligerman to race for their Daytona 500 starting spots in Thursday night’s Gander RV Duel At Daytona. Kligerman and Truex will face off in the first race while Gaughan and Gase are in the second race.