The 2018 Daytona 500, the 60th running of the event, was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on February 18, 2018, contested over 207 laps—extended from 200 laps due to an overtime finish—on the asphalt superspeedway. It was the first race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, and also marked the first race for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as Chevrolet's car for this season, replacing the SS. Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing won the race after contact with Aric Almirola on the final lap resulted in a single-car accident for the latter. Bubba Wallace making his first Daytona 500 start finished second while Denny Hamlin came in third. This was the last Daytona 500 starts for Danica Patrick, Trevor Bayne, Kasey Kahne, David Gilliland, Mark Thompson (in his only Daytona 500 start), BK Racing, Furniture Row Racing and D. J. Kennington.
Report Background
Daytona International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
Notes This was the first Daytona 500 race since 1982 where none of the cars were sponsored by beer companies (Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, respectively, were instead sponsored by Jimmy John's and Discount Tire for the race). Only 40 cars entered the race, meaning no entrants would fail to qualify for the race.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 00 Jeffrey Earnhardt StarCom Racing Chevrolet 1 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 6 Trevor Bayne (W) Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Danica Patrick Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 10 Aric Almirola Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin (W) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano (W) Team Penske Ford 23 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 24 William Byron (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Bubba Wallace (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Marks (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 62 Brendan Gaughan Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 66 Mark Thompson MBM Motorsports Ford 72 Corey LaJoie TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 92 David Gilliland (i) RBR Enterprises Ford 95 Kasey Kahne Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 96 D. J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing ToyotaOfficial entry list
(R) Denotes Rookie of the Year candidate. (i) Denotes driver has declared for another NASCAR national touring series championship and is thus ineligible for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship points. (W) denotes past winner of the 500.
Practice First practice (February 10) Kyle Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 45.058 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.058 199.743 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.085 199.623 3 19 Daniel Suárez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 45.088 199.610Official first practice results
Second practice (February 10) William Byron was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 44.625 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 24 William Byron (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 44.625 201.681 2 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 44.632 201.649 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 44.641 201.608Official second practice results
Qualifying
Alex Bowman scored the pole for the race with a time of 46.002 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 188 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.181 46.002 211 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.201 46.132 348 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.420 46.217 418 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.366 46.224 524 William Byron (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.328 46.261 620 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.513 46.279 719 Daniel Suárez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 46.412 46.280 84 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.420 46.281 917 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 46.313 46.381 109 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 46.534 46.413 1122 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 46.422 46.437 1221 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 46.470 46.584 1310 Aric Almirola Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.539 — 143 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 46.546 — 1512 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 46.577 — 1614 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.658 — 1741 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 46.678 — 1895 Kasey Kahne Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 46.694 — 192 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 46.698 — 206 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 46.781 — 2131 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 46.816 — 2242 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.817 — 231 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 46.836 — 2434 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 46.899 — 2543 Bubba Wallace (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 46.938 — 2678 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 47.002 — 2713 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 47.074 — 287 Danica Patrick Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 47.081 — 2937 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 47.095 — 3047 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 47.144 — 3162 Brendan Gaughan Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 47.398 — 3251 Justin Marks (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 47.464 — 3332 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 47.675 — 3496 D. J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 47.848 — 3500 Jeffrey Earnhardt StarCom Racing Chevrolet 47.866 — 3692 David Gilliland (i) RBR Enterprises Ford 47.884 — 3766 Mark Thompson MBM Motorsports Ford 48.267 — 3872 Corey LaJoie TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 48.372 — 3923 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 0.000 — 4038 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 0.000 —Official qualifying results
Can-Am Duels
The Can-Am Duels are a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races held in conjunction with the Daytona 500 annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. They consist of two races 60 laps and 150 miles (240 km) in length, which serve as heat races that set the lineup for the Daytona 500. The first race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in odd-numbered positions on pole qualifying day, while the second race sets the lineup for cars that qualified in even-numbered positions. The Duels set the lineup for positions 3–38, while positions 39 and 40 are filled by the two "Open" (teams without a charter) cars that set the fastest times in qualifying, but did not lock in a spot in the Duels.
For championship purposes, each Duel is a full Championship Stage, except there is no playoff point awarded. The top ten drivers receive championship points.
Duel 1
Duel 1 results Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 8 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 63 102 6 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 63 93 13 43 Bubba Wallace (R) Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 63 84 5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 63 75 9 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 63 66 11 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 63 57 20 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 63 48 4 19 Daniel Suárez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 63 39 12 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 63 210 15 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 63 111 14 13 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 63 012 16 62 Brendan Gaughan Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 63 013 18 00 Jeffrey Earnhardt StarCom Racing Chevrolet 63 014 1 88 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 63 015 17 51 Justin Marks (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 63 016 10 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 57 017 19 92 David Gilliland (i) RBR Enterprises Ford 47 018 3 24 William Byron (R) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 38 019 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 8 020 7 10 Aric Almirola Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 8 0Official race results
Duel 2
Duel 2 results Pos Grid Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points1 5 9 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 60 102 4 4 Kevin Harvick StewartHaas Racing Ford 60 93 3 20 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 84 8 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 60 75 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 66 7 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 60 57 6 21 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 60 48 10 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 60 39 1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 60 210 15 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 60 111 12 34 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 60 012 13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 60 013 9 95 Kasey Kahne Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 60 014 14 7 Danica Patrick Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 60 015 17 96 D. J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 58 016 19 72 Corey LaJoie TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 58 017 20 23 Gray Gaulding BK Racing Toyota 55 018 18 66 Mark Thompson MBM Motorsports Ford 32 019 16 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 11 020 11 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 11 0Official race results
Starting lineup