Daytona NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson completes Daytona victory double

Following the Daytona 500 win in February that launched his season, championship leader Johnson had the edge over his rivals for most of the night on the series' return to the venue.

He led 94 of the 161 laps and broke away from the pack in a green-white-chequered finish.

Tony Stewart did his best to find a way around Johnson's Hendrick Chevrolet over the final lap, but did not have the momentum and had to settle for second.

Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr followed them across the line.

There was chaos behind, with two separate multi-car crashes erupting on the final lap, the first when Carl Edwards was spun at Turn 2, the second when Danica Patrick was turned across the pack at Turn 4.

The green-white-chequered finish had been prompted when second and third-placed Marcos Ambrose and Kasey Kahne clashed with five laps to go, firing the American into the wall.

Prior to that there had been a red flag 10 laps from the finish. Denny Hamlin spun up the track, causing Matt Kenseth to slide into Jeff Gordon in avoidance, and was then collected by AJ Allmendinger.

That was Hamlin's second event of the night following an earlier spin with Martin Truex Jr in which Kyle Busch also got caught up.

Both Hamlin and polesitter Busch rejoined after repairs and fought back into the lead group before further incidents, with Busch hitting the wall hard in the second final-lap crash.

Results - 161 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                         Time/Gap
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           2h36m30.000s
 2.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet            +0.108s
 3.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet               +0.213s
 4.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                    +0.296s
 5.  Michael Waltrip     Waltrip Toyota                    +0.303s
 6.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet           +0.360s
 7.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet       +0.414s
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet                +0.469s
 9.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford
10.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet
11.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford
12.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota
13.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet
14.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet
15.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford
16.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet
17.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford
18.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota
19.  Terry Labonte       FAS Lane Ford
20.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford
21.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford
22.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford
23.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota
24.  Landon Cassill      Circle Sport Chevrolet
25.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford
26.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford
27.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota
28.  Scott Speed         Leavine Ford
29.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                       +2 laps
30.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet               +5 laps

Some time gaps unavailable due to last-lap crashes

Retirements:

     Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           155 laps
     Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota             154 laps*
     Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           151 laps
     AJ Allmendinger     Phoenix Chevrolet            149 laps
     Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota             149 laps
     David Stremme       Swan Toyota                  127 laps
     Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   127 laps
     Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  126 laps*
     Joey Logano         Penske Ford                  105 laps*
     Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               97 laps
     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 33 laps
     Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          23 laps

* Running again at chequered flag