Daytona NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson completes Daytona victory double
Jimmie Johnson became the first man to win both the NASCAR Sprint Cup's Daytona events in a single season in 31 years as he dominated Saturday night's round
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
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