Two NASCAR Ford racers – Joey Logano and Michael McDowell – dominated qualifying for the rescheduled 2024 Daytona 500 on February 19th, but as is the nature of superspeedway racing, the race itself didn’t go quite so well, and The Blue Oval suffered a mishap that dashed any hopes of winning.
Poor luck struck early, as Harrison Burton’s No. 21 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse was one of several race cars to wreck out just five laps in. From there, the racing calmed down for a while, as Logano’s No. 22 Mustang took control for 45 laps, McDowell’s No. 34 Mustang showed the way for six, while Brad Keselowski led some laps in the No. 6 Mustang, as did Todd Gilliland in the No. 38 Mustang and Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Mustang.
However, chaos on Lap 192 knocked out most of the top NASCAR Ford competitors in a dramatic 18-car wreck. The No. 48 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Alex Bowman got into the back of William Byron’s No. 24 Camaro, sending him into Keselowski’s side and triggering the crash. Blaney, Logano and Gilliland suffered irreparable damage, knocking them out of contention – along with almost half the field.
“Speedway racing again,” Logano said after being released from the care center. “It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me, but just couldn’t make it work.”
Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Mustang appeared to be The Blue Oval’s final hope, but he and the No. 1 Camaro of Ross Chastain made contact on the last lap, setting off another multicar crash and paving the way for Byron in the No. 24 Camaro to win.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 200 | 4 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 7 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 4 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DEWALT/Interstate Batteries Toyota | 200 | 22 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 29 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet | 200 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 5 | 24 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 200 | 3 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 28 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Celsius Chevrolet | 200 | 9 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 7 | 10 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Dollar Tree Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 8 | 11 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 9 | 38 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford | 200 | 5 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 20 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 17 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 200 | 7 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 12 | 34 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Zone Chevrolet | 200 | 12 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 13 | 14 | 71 | Zane Smith # | WeatherTech Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 14 | 5 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 200 | 13 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 27 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 16 | 37 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | Cirkul Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 17 | 15 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 200 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 18 | 19 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 19 | 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Toyota | 200 | 10 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 20 | 40 | 60 | * David Ragan | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 200 | 2 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 21 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Chevrolet | 199 | 14 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 22 | 6 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 199 | 13 | Ford Mustang |
| 23 | 25 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 24 | 36 | 15 | Riley Herbst(i) | Monster Energy Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 30 | 4 | Josh Berry # | SunnyD Ford | 199 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 22 | 51 | Justin Haley | TreeTop Apple Juice/Jacob Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 27 | 39 | 62 | * Anthony Alfredo(i) | Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 23 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | Carvana Toyota | 196 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 29 | 3 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Nasty Beast Toyota | 192 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 32 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/PEAK Ford | 192 | 12 | Ford Mustang |
| 31 | 35 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Boost by Kroger.Cottonelle Chevrolet | 192 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 1 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 191 | 45 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 16 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Edge Ford | 191 | 3 | Ford Mustang |
| 34 | 13 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 191 | 2 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 31 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | gener8tor Ford | 191 | 16 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 2 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 176 | 6 | Ford Mustang |
| 37 | 33 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 38 | 26 | 36 | * Kaz Grala # | Ruedebusch Ford | 5 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 39 | 12 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford | 5 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 40 | 9 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Gainbridge/Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 5 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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