Denny Hamlin Wins Daytona 500 by a Nose

Denny Hamlin won his first Daytona 500 on February 21st in the closest finish ever in the Great American Race. Hamlin won by a nose—his car’s nose—beating second place finisher Martin Truex, Jr. by 0.01 seconds. The race was a great start to the 2016 NASCAR season.

Matt Kenseth took the lead on Lap 160. On the final lap, Hamlin tried to go around Kenseth, who went up high to block him. That did not go well. Not only did Hamlin maneuver around Kenseth, so did 13 other cars. In the blink of an eye, Kenseth dropped from 1st to 14th place, which is where he finished.

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. It was big day for Toyota; all of the top five except Harvick (Chevrolet) drove Camrys.