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Kurt Busch wins crash-strewn 2017 Daytona 500 for Stewart-Haas

Kurt Busch won a Daytona 500 blighted by numerous accidents that damaged 35 of the 40 cars in the 2017 NASCAR Cup opener

The Stewart-Haas Ford driver hit the front as both polesitter Chase Elliott and then Kyle Larson ran out of fuel while leading during the final two laps.

Busch kept out of the many incidents that took place in the middle part of the race and worked his way back up the field having dropped to the rear early on due to a pitlane speeding penalty.

The race, which was split into two stages of 60 laps and a third 80 lap stage under the new rules, had numerous cautions occurring late in the second stage and early in the third stage.

As the third stage was 80 laps long, a number of teams wrongly calculated how much fuel was needed to finish amid all the yellows, leading to Elliott and Larson's late heartbreaks.

Before the late drama it was Kevin Harvick, runner up in the first stage behind Kyle Busch and winner of the second stage, who looked most comfortable going into stage three.

But Harvick was among a number of major contenders taken out of contention in a 16-car crash early in the third stage, along with reigning champion Jimmie Johnson and last year's 500 winner Hamlin.

Elliott then looked the most likely winner as the sun went down, before the fuel issues left him 14th and Larson 12th.

Underdogs Ryan Blaney of Wood Brothers, who was lucky to escape damage in an earlier crash, and AJ Allmendinger of JTG Daugherty came through to second and third, followed by Aric Almirola and Paul Menard.

Penske protege Blaney fared better than the team's own drivers, with Joey Logano squeezed back to sixth in the final laps and Brad Keselowski another crash victim.

Having looked dominant on pace for much of the week, Toyota's only top-10 finisher was Michael Waltrip in eighth in his farewell race. The rapid Joe Gibbs Racing drivers were all caught up in accidents and Furniture Row's Martin Truex Jr was yet another to run out of fuel.

RESULTS - 200 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 3h29m31.s
2 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 0.228s
3 A.J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 0.419s
4 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 1.195s
5 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1.564s
6 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 2.196s
7 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 2.288s
8 Michael Waltrip Premium Motorsports Toyota 8.826s
9 Matt DiBenedetto Go FAS Racing Ford 9.451s
10 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 9.581s
11 Brendan Gaughan Beard Motorsports Chevrolet 9.669s
12 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 11.267s
13 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota s
14 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet s
15 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet s
16 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 1 Lap
17 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1 Lap
18 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Ford 1 Lap
19 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
20 Elliott Sadler Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 1 Lap
21 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 2 Laps
22 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 3 Laps
23 Joey Gase BK Racing Toyota 4 Laps
24 Corey LaJoie BK Racing Toyota 7 Laps
25 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 12 Laps
26 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport / TMG Chevrolet Accident
27 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford Accident
28 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Accident
29 Daniel Suarez Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Accident
30 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet Accident
31 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford Accident
32 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Accident
33 Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Accident
34 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Accident
35 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet Accident
36 D.J. Kennington Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota Accident
37 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Accident
38 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Accident
39 Erik Jones Furniture Row Racing Toyota Accident
40 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Accident

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Kurt Busch 56
2 Ryan Blaney 44
3 Joey Logano 43
4 Kevin Harvick 42
5 A.J. Allmendinger 39
6 Aric Almirola 37
7 Kyle Larson 36
8 Chase Elliott 33
9 Denny Hamlin 33
10 Paul Menard 32
11 Trevor Bayne 32
12 Brad Keselowski 31
13 Kasey Kahne 30
14 Michael Waltrip 29
15 Matt DiBenedetto 28
16 Austin Dillon 25
17 Martin Truex Jr. 24
18 Michael McDowell 22
19 Ryan Newman 22
19 Jamie McMurray 22
21 Landon Cassill 21
22 Cole Whitt 21
23 Clint Bowyer 18
24 Danica Patrick 16
25 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 13
25 David Ragan 13
27 Jeffrey Earnhardt 11
27 Kyle Busch 11
29 Ty Dillon 9
29 Daniel Suarez 9
31 Matt Kenseth 7
32 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 6
33 Jimmie Johnson 5
34 Chris Buescher 2
35 Erik Jones 1
35 D.J. Kennington 1


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