Late crashes mar end of Daytona 500, spoil Kyle Busch's potential win: 'Back in 1998, that would be the win'

Edward Sutelan

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Late crashes mar end of Daytona 500, spoil Kyle Busch's potential win: 'Back in 1998, that would be the win' image

Kyle Busch was just two laps away from winning his first Daytona 500. Then chaos struck the race track. Again.

Daniel Suarez spun out late in Sunday's race, bringing out the caution flag and forcing the race into overtime. 

MORE: Stenhouse edges past Logano to win Daytona 500

Early in the third stage, a major crash eliminated Ryan Preece from the race and did significant damage to Kevin Harvick, racing in his final Daytona 500, and Martin Truex Jr., who, like Busch, was looking for his first win in the Daytona 500. Truex had won Stage 1.

On lap 197, Busch took his first lead of the race and appeared to be pulling away to put himself in a position to win. But it wasn't long after Busch took the lead that Suarez spun out, forcing overtime.

Busch, clearly unhappy that he watched what could have been a way spin out in his rearview mirror, told his crew that not long ago, he would be in victory lane.

Busch had the lead early in the overtime, but Joey Logano was able to get around him from the outside, along with Stenhouse. As it appeared the race would come down to either the 22 or 47, another major pileup in the back brought the yellow flag back out and ensured there would be more racing.

There was still one more crash to be had in Sunday's race. Late in overtime, another big pileup collected a number of drivers and at first, appeared to yet again postpone the celebration at the end of the race. However, NASCAR declared Stenhouse the winner as he was leading when the caution flag came out.

When all was said and done, drivers made 212 revolutions around the track, the longest in Daytona 500 history. It supplanted 2020's record of 209 laps, which Denny Hamlin was crowned the winner. 

The late wrecks overshadowed what was a relatively clean race and denied fans the opportunity to see a possible photo finish with the white checkered flag out. 

Edward Sutelan

Edward Sutelan Photo

Edward Sutelan joined The Sporting News in 2021 after covering high school sports for PennLive. Edward graduated from The Ohio State University in 2019, where he gained experience covering the baseball, football and basketball teams. Edward also spent time working for The Columbus Dispatch and Cape Cod Times.