2017 Daytona 500 - The Live Blog

From Road & Track

7:00 PM: In a race that started with compicatede strategy, was defined by its series of mid-race wrecks, and ended with fuel mileage dictating the final laps, there were no shortage of storylines surrounding Kurt Busch's win in this year's Daytona 500. You can read all about it here, and read the archived live blog below.

6:28 PM: Kurt Busch, sponsored by new title sponsor Monster Energy, wins. It was Larson's to lose, after making three one-car moves to go from fourth to first in two laps, but he was half a lap short on fuel.

6:28 PM: Larson out of fuel from the lead, Kurt Busch to the lead, Ryan Blaney to second. Two corners to go.

6:27 PM: Larson moves inside and takes the lead, pushing Truex back. Truex gets in front of Logano to make the inside happen from fifth. One to go.

6:26 PM: Disaster for Chase Elliott, whose high fuel burn as a leader leaves him stumbling and, presumably, out of gas. Truex to the lead, Larson to second.

6:25 PM: Kyle Larson with an amazing one-car move, moving inside with momentum without help and passing Kurt Busch for third. As he moves inside in third, Logano tries once more to make the far inside happen.

6:24 PM: Elliott asks his crew if his volt count is too low. Fuel isn't the only issue in play as the field goes back to single file. Four to go.

6:23 PM: It's Ryan Blaney who slides inside to help teammate Logano. Nobody else joins them and they're stalled in tenth. Five to go.

6:22 PM: Logano moves back inside. Will anyone help?

6:21 PM: All leaders are back in line, and all three who moved inside have lost significant track position.

6:20 PM: Ryan Blaney made his move, cutting to the inside, but he has no help and loses track position. He has Austin Dillon and Joey Logano helping now, but it doesn't seem to be enough yet.

6:19 PM: Logano has moved past the stragglers and back into the back of the main line.

6:17 PM: We're in a fuel mileage race now, and a few of the leaders find themselves saving. Kurt Busch, running in third, is reported to be half a lap short.

6:16 PM: Notably, the single-file line has broken into two lines separated by about a second, and Logano is in the second group. They're in real danger of losing the draft, and if they do, that's the biggest threat to Chase Elliott out of contention for now.

6:11 PM: Kyle Larson bails on inside lane leader Joey Logano, a move that immediately leaves what is probably the strongest contender left in this race falling out of the lead draft, which is now single file. Chase Elliott still leads and Martin Truex Jr. is his biggest threat in second.

6:09 PM: Elliott is successfully blocking the field, but he's doing it with quick, snapping moves, not the smooth and fluid two-lane blocking his teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have executed to win at this track over the past few years. It's working for now, but it's something to watch.

6:07 PM: Elliott gets a big push from Truex and leads alone. Does he have the car to block two lanes at once?

6:06 PM: Chase Elliott has made his move and we have a side-by-side battle for the lead again, now with Logano helped by Dillon dueling Elliott helped by Truex. The cars behind second aren't as important with this package as they were when the Gen 6 restrictor plate package debuted, but it's still worth noting that Kurt Busch is third in Elliott's outside group, while Larson is third on the inside.

6:05 PM: With no draft support, Larson falls back to fifth and falls in line. The top five are single file on the inside, with the field alternating between two- and three-wide behind them. Ryan Blaney, notably, is no longer part of the top group, having been pushed aside by Martin Truex Jr.

6:02 PM: Elliott gets aggressive in third and his push moves Logano into a comfortable lead, leaving his #24 and Kyle Larson side-by-side for second. The field follows double file from second on back.

6:00 PM: Joey Logano saw Ryan Newman about to be lapped and used it to his advantage, pushing Kyle Larson side-by-side for the lead. The field is two-wide behind them with no clear leader, Larson has the support of Kurt Busch and Logano the support of Chase Elliott.

5:56 PM: There's some punches being thrown up front. Looks like our final list of contenders is Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Austin Dillon, and all but Dillon are throwing haymakers to catch Larson and lead this race. There's 40 laps to go, and all of them will be in a position to win if they're in the top ten and haven't wrecked with ten to go, but that's not stopping them from going all out.

5:53 PM: Cole Whitt fades back into the pack after leading a few laps, and a lap later, Kyle Larson dispatches Aric Almirola to take the lead. Martin Truex Jr. makes an aggressive move to the lead, but almost loses control and slides back himself, thankfully without wrecking. The young trio of Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott run 1-2-3, with Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. quickly catching them.

5:51 PM: Back to green with Cole Whitt and Aric Almirola leading the field. Both are getting strong pushes and, with neither a car the field wants to follow, this may not settle down for a few laps.

5:49 PM, Caution 8: The #15 of Michael Waltrip needs a push start out of the pits. Does that leave just four healthy cars?

5:44 PM, Caution 8: This again.

This time, it's Joey Gase spinning and hitting the wall. Gase drifted up into Chase Elliott, the two make light contact, and the resulting suspension issue takes out Gase. Brendan Gaughan loses control in his attempts to avoid the wreck, spinning on the inside apron and up into the outside wall.

5:43 PM: Back to green with Austin Dillon leading, but Joey Logano makes quick work of him. Kasey Kahne leads the outside line of what has become a much smaller pack.

5:42 PM, Caution 7: Fox Sports lists just five cars not involved in wrecks of 40 starters, among them are the 3, 5, 15, 43, and 47. Of those, only the 5 can be described as an expected top contender.

5:33 PM, Caution 7: Also among the wrecked are Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray. Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin make it out with minor damage.

5:32 PM, Caution 7: That massive wreck collects, among others, Daniel Suarez and Chase Elliott. It began with Jamie McMurray, just as the Johnson incident did, aggressively pushing a Hendrick car inside the top five.

5:30 PM, Caution 7: Three big wrecks in a row. That one got just about everyone behind the leaders.

5:29 PM: Back to green and it's Austin Dillon making a move for the lead from the inside.

5:28 PM, Caution 6: Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, who took very minor damage, finished their repairs in the five minutes allotted and won't be forced to retire as Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a few laps earlier.

5:19 PM, Caution 6: A three-car wreck in the middle of the pack as Elliott Sadler found himself sandwiched between Jeffrey Earnhardt and Ryan Blaney, with Sadler collecting Roush-Fenway teammates Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne. Sadler and Blaney both signaled that they'd be pitting, with Earnhardt hitting Sadler while he slowed.

5:17 PM: Chase Elliott leads the field back to green with a push from Jamie McMurray, who has been his usual aggressive self all race long. If he wins today, it won't be the first time McMurray has run a reckless race only to put it all together in time to take a Daytona win.

5:15 PM, Caution 5: For those keeping score at home, here are the remaining cars for the four team groups that have won all but two races over the past two seasons:

Joe Gibbs Racing - Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Daniel SuarezPenske Racing - Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan BlaneyHendrick Motorsports - Kasey Kahne, Chase ElliottStewart-Haas Racing - Kurt Busch

Suarez is back on the lead lap after going two laps down early, so each of these contenders are still in a position where they should be able to race for the win.

5:11 PM, Caution 5: Not hard to deduce the source of that wreck, it was a bump by Jamie McMurray that forced Jimmie Johnson to try to change lanes, and it was Trevor Bayne's refusal to lift that escalated it into a problem. Not a shining moment for any of the three drivers involved.

5:07 PM, Caution 5: Like clockwork, the first feisty racing of the day ends with the first big wreck of the day. Jimmie Johnson headlines the casualties, getting what looks like race-ending damage after spinning off the bumper of Trevor Bayne, aggressively trying to merge without being clear. Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Danica Patrick are also collected, meaning the race is out another four contenders and Stewart-Haas Racing is down to just Kurt Busch, who narrowly avoided the wreck.

5:06 PM: We finally have a race at Daytona. Two Hendrick cars lead the field side-by-side, behind them the field is three-wide all the way through.

5:04 PM: Kyle Larson leads the field back to green, with three Hendrick Motorsports cars behind him pressuring from either side. Kasey Kahne and Chase Elliott pass him from either side, and just that quickly it's a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2-3 up front.

4:57 PM, Caution 4: A lot of shake-up on this cycle of stops as Brad Keselowski moves to the lead taking only two tires. Chris Buescher moves to second with a no tire stop.

4:54 PM: Harvick holds off a late charge from Joey Logano to win segment 2. 80 laps and one final segment to go.

4:48 PM: Back to green. Patrick hangs back and Kevin Harvick darts out to the lead with seven laps to go in the segment.

4:42 PM, Caution 3: Jimmie Johnson leads out of the pits, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. officially retires from the race. Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick, who stopped together earlier in the segment, will restart from the front of the field.

4:39 PM, Caution 3: Back to yellow after a lengthy cleanup. 11 laps to go in the segment.

4:30 PM, Caution 3: We're under a red flag for repairs with Tommy Baldwin Racing leading. If that sounds familiar to you, this was the situation we were in after Juan Pablo Montoya hit a jet drier in the famous Monday night 500 from 2012, although the driver was Dave Blaney, not Elliott Sadler.

4:23 PM, Caution 3: Earnhardt beats the caution clock and rejoins the field heavily damaged, two laps down. Hendrick Motorsports is down to three cars, while JGR's six-pronged approach is down to just three. Both lose their strongest cars all day long, making this particularly good news for Penske and Stewart-Haas.

4:17 PM, Caution 3: The cause of the wreck was a right-rear flat for Busch. That would've engulfed the field, had they been running together in a pack. Only Earnhardt makes it back into the pit lane, where he's on the new five minute repair clock. His team can't add a new right-front fender, so he's almost certainly out of contention no matter how quickly the damage is repaired.

4:15 PM, Caution 3: That question is immediately answered as Kyle Busch spins on his own from the front of the field, taking out teammates Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth with him. The incident also collected race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a strong Ty Dillon. This should be race-ending for all three JGR cars and fellow contender Earnhardt.

4:13 PM: The Toyotas are running a very risky strategy, but that strategy is what's dictating how everyone else runs their race at the moment. Earnhardt's driving with the specific goal of passing Toyotas and getting them trapped a lap down, but he's surrounded by them, and the only help he has to get around anyone would have to come from Elliott Sadler in the #7 Tommy Baldwin entry.

4:09 PM: Stops have been so scattered this round that the field is fully scrambled. Three JGR cars lead the field from a lap down, while Earnhardt leads the race at fourth on track.

4:04 PM: A group headlined by Kevin Harvick and Penske's top two stop on lap 30, halfway through the segment. This promotes Jimmie Johnson to the race lead, well ahead of second in the pack thanks to the lap traffic around him.

4:00 PM: The JGR strategy is a flop this time around, and the pack has already caught the group of five. A patient Kevin Harvick allows the top three in that group to slot into the front of the pack, but Harvick won't let some of the biggest threats in the field to stay on the lead lap for long.

3:57 PM: 21 laps into the stint and Joe Gibbs Racing makes the same move it did in segment 1. The strategy worked well last time, and what seemed to be a cleaner set of stops leaves a pack of five leave the pit lane together. The lone exception in the JGR camp is Martin Truex Jr., who stays on track.

3:53 PM: Fully single file up front for the first time today. Kevin Harvick leads the field and the only charge happening comes from a short group of six led by Jamie McMurray, who many drivers have expressed frustration with today, in fifteenth.

3:48 PM: Three wide from about twelfth on back with Chase Elliott leading a middle groove, while Kevin Harvick clears Kyle Larson to move into the race lead.

3:46 PM: Back to green with Larson leading the inside group and Harvick leading the outside. Larson gets a good push from Kyle Busch and the inside is off to an early lead.

3:38 PM, Caution 2: Kyle Larson takes two tires when the rest of the field takes four and should lead the field to the green flag for segment 2.

3:33 PM, Caution 2: Busch wins segment 1, and with the field calming in the last few laps of the stage, we didn't see the panic many expected in that race for a segment win. That's ten championship points and, more importantly, a playoff point for Busch. Segment 2 is another 60 laps, with the final segment comprised of the race's final 80 laps.

3:31 PM: With two laps left in the segment, Furniture Row Racing pits both of its cars in an attempt to gain a free stop without losing a lap. Unfortunately for that group, a delay on the #78 will hurt both of their JGR-affiliated Toyotas. Kyle Busch still leads the field.

3:28 PM: Stenhouse has an issue of his own, likely a result of the previous incident. It becomes a tire rub, then a flat. The issue created a comfortable separation for the leaders, now in a pack of fifteen well out of reach of the rest of the field.

3:25 PM: David Ragan makes hard contact with the outside wall, losing control after light contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s #17. Ragan is lucky that veterans Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano were behind him, as the two experienced drivers immediately slowed and allowed Ragan to safely get to his pit stall.

Up front, Kyle Busch has finally pulled away, but the separation has allowed Blaney a chance to get back in line with teammate Brad Keselowski. He's likely to make another move in a few laps, when segment win points will be available.

3:24 PM: As Blaney and Kyle Busch continue to duel for the lead, switching lanes a few times and still side-by-side for first, we've got a fairly major issue as timing and scoring has failed for the second time today. Intermittent issues with the system will be a big problem for teams like JGR running complicated strategies all day long.

3:20 PM: Just a lap and a half later and Truex is already pushed out of the lead, falling to sixteenth as Ryan Blaney and teammate Brad Keselowski bail on him to make their own move on the outside. We're side by side for the race lead with fifteen laps to go in Segment 1.

3:18 PM: That push to the outside by Elliott was short-lived, while a strong middle lane has become a new, successful outside line. Is that car not as strong as advertised?

Up front, the three JGR cars in the top ten have pushed Kevin Harvick out of the lead, with Martin Truex Jr. taking the lead with a push from Ryan Blaney. Two JGR cars lead two Penske cars in the top four.

3:15 PM: Chase Elliott received some advice from Dale Earnhardt Jr., relayed between spotters, during that caution. He puts them to use immediately, moving to an outside lane with Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon. The field is three-wide outside of the top five, ubt the top few cars are comfortably ahead of the field.

3:14 PM, Caution 1: Back to green. Three JGR cars stayed on the lead lap, as did Joey Logano, but Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth fell a lap down, while Daniel Suarez is down two. Kevin Harvick will lead the field to the green, with McMurray leading the outside group.

3:12 PM, Caution 1: Does JGR (and their satellite team Furniture Row) really have enough cars to run their own drafts? One expert thinks they're just short, even with all six cars healthy. Either way, it certainly won't be enough if all six can't stay together.

3:07 PM, Caution 1: We have our first crash of the day as Corey LaJoie gets into the wall in an ill-fated attempt to slow to pit road speeds. With just under half the field entering the pits just before the caution came out, we'll have a scattered field when the race goes back to green. LaJoie locked his brakes, nearly clipping Clint Bowyer but instead going straight into the trioval wall after missing his #14.

3:04 PM: Chase Elliott leaves the outside lane and, suddenly, the line led by Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't quick enough to keep up with the top three. With the outside line moving further back, Ryan Blaney moves up to fourth overall, an incredible start for a driver that began the day in the back of the field. With Logano still leading the main pack (and about five laps from catching the JGR group ahead of it), Penske Racing-built cars hold three of the top five positions.

3:02 PM: The reason for JGR's early stops are clear: Their plan is to regularly stop off-cycle, gambling on the fact that they have so many cars that they can run their own pack and not go down a lap after stopping. If this works, it could net JGR as much as ten seconds a cycle over the course of a long green flag run. Unfortunately for them, their first attempt ended with half their six cars experiencing issues and the three cars remaining aren't enough to run faster than the lead pack. It could be a race winning move, but not if they struggle with execution like they have on their first attempt.

3:00 PM: Logano is leading the pack, but at a lap down, is running in the low 30s overall. Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. move to the outside, ready to make a move to pass both.

2:57 PM: The disruption created by Logano has given the leaders a chance to make moves, and Kevin Harvick uses Logano's draft to move into the race lead. McMurray moves to the outside, where he has very little help.

Now in their window to make the end of the first segment, all six Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated Toyotas stop on lap 20. It's a faultless stop for four of the teams, but the #19 of rookie Daniel Suarez is both busted for speeding and struggling with a loose wheel. The issue will push Suarez a further lap down. The #20 has a tire issue of its own, and Matt Kenseth also has to stop again.

2:55 PM: It's an early issue for an early contender as Joey Logano stops from fourth on just lap fourteen, replacing a loose wheel and taking the opportunity to make a full stop. Chase Elliott will use the opportunity to replace Logano in the middle of the inside lane, leaving Kurt Busch to lead the outside group. Logano will fall a lap back, but stopped quick enough that he should have no trouble rejoining the pack.

2:51 PM: The lead for the inside lane is now five cars long, soon to be six. The pairing of Chase Elliott and and a more impatient than usual Clint Bowyer is having significant trouble keeping up with an inside line led by some of the strongest cars and most patient drivers in the field.

2:49 PM: Without the help of teammate Earnhardt, Elliott quickly loses the lead to the inside lane, led by McMurray. The previous middle lane has already been absorbed back into the inside group, and Earnhardt is already back up into the top five. If he, Logano, and Brad Keselowski stay together long, whatever lane they're in will be the favored lane. There may not be three stronger cars with three better pack racers in the field.

2:47 PM: Earnhardt is left out to dry by Denny Hamlin, who moves into second in the outside lane and overall. Being that he's Dale Earnhardt Jr., his time alone in the middle of the pack doesn't last too long before he gets help from Joey Logano, making the field three-wide from about tenth on back. This early in the race, that leaves everyone but the leaders and those well behind the pack on notice, one wrong move and a driver's day is done before the end of segment one.

2:45 PM: Elliott leads lap 1 and the Hendrick pair have a comfortable lead on the outside line. The field is staying double-file so far, with McMurray leading the inside lane in third.

2:42 PM: We're green for the 2017 Daytona 500. Elliott gets a nice push from Jamie McMurray to take the lead into turn 1, Earnhardt falls into line behind him. This year's package favors a strong car up front, as every package run with the Gen 6 body has, but passing should be easier than it has been in past years.

2:35 PM: Behind Gordon in the pace car are the only two cars he's ever run in his Sprint Cup Series career, the #24 and #88 Hendrick Motorsports cars now driven by Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr., respectively. We're two laps from the green flag, the official beginning of NASCAR's latest era.

2:28 PM: With the timing and scoring issue apparently fixed, the command has been given and engines have been fired.

2:27 PM: The firing of engines has been delayed by a timing and scoring issue. Even when there's no rain, Daytona still brings delays.

2:24 PM: With Jeff Gordon driving the pace car to start today's race, the race will begin with a two-man booth of Mike Joy and Darrell Waltrip. Gordon has made it clear he hasn't fully retired from auto racing, having run a partial schedule in relief of Dale Earnhardt Jr. last season and won the Rolex 24 at Daytona last month, but he's stated a few times that he's done with restrictor plate racing, a decision he shares with fellow recent retiree and part-time sprint car driver Tony Stewart.

Why Gordon and not someone without booth responsibilities, like Stewart or other voluntarily unemployed/maybe retired former contenders like Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards? That isn't exactly clear.

2:20 PM: When you have on-track pre-race ceremonies as large as those at Daytona, you're going to have some unique problems:

2:14 PM: We're just starting opening ceremonies, about 15 minutes away from the green flag. Fox Sports just let Rob Gronkowski do a grid walk, so if you were wondering how these broadcasts will be in the Monster-sponsored era, there's the answer you expected.

2:00 PM: With the Daytona 500 just a few minutes away, NASCAR is for the third time in just over a decade on the brink of entering a new era of championship formats. 2017 marks the debut season of a new format built on three-segment races, with championship points being awarded twice mid-race for every race on the schedule, whether it be a road course or a super speedway. With a "Playoff Points" system that awards both regular season championship points and special points that carry over to the season's last ten races, formerly known as the Chase but now just "NASCAR Playoffs", to segment and race winners, for many drivers it makes more sense to go all out to win a segment than it does to stay patient and run a full-race strategy intended to win the event. It may not be an issue for the blue chip teams that expect to make the 16-car playoff field, but for a program like the now-single-car Richard Petty Motorsports team that can't count on either winning one of the 26 regular season races or finishing in the top five with enough consistency to make the field on points, gambling on segment wins on a week-by-week basis represents a new avenue to championship contention and, because of the Playoff Point rollover (which now adds to a driver's score for the first three round of the playoffs, a big change from the one-round "Seeding" points used in past Chase formats), a legitimate chance to make it out of the first few four-car cuts to the playoff field.

Though the segment system will have the largest impact on the on-track product, the 2017 offseason marked a few other significant changes. New drivers in the category's top equipment from Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Penske Racing, and Stewart-Haas Racing include Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, and 2016 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Suarez, who replaces Carl Edwards at JGR after the 2016 series championship contender shockingly walked away from the sport. Stewart-Haas becomes the first championship-level team to leave their manufacturer since Penske left Dodge for Ford, leaving Chevrolet and the Hendrick Motorsports affiliation that gave them their start for a Ford program that has in just a few short years entirely replaced the production they were previously getting from their now-struggling Roush-Fenway and Richard Petty Motorsports programs. Perhaps most importantly for the future of the sport, Monster Energy has replaced Sprint as the series title sponsor, a move of little significance to fans at home but one that has already had a major effect at the track as Monster has spent the last few months trying to adjust the culture of the top level of stock car racing in their own image.

The winner of today's third and final segment will be the one remembered as a Daytona 500 champion, but in the weekend's two lower-series races also using this system, another driver has finished poorly after winning the first two segments and come away with a strong position in the series standings anyway. For better or for worse, all 500 miles matter today.

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