Daytona 500 live updates: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins

Live updates for this race have ended. Click here for Sunday’s results.

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be tossing along live updates throughout Sunday’s race from Daytona International Speedway in the section below. Refresh for the latest news. Full results will be posted at the end of the race.

Live updates from the Daytona 500

Stage 3

Lap 212: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edges Joey Logano on the final restart — leading after the caution came out after the white flag! See below for what happened down the stretch.

Lap 203: Another caution! Starting positions on second overtime restart: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch. Wreck collects a bunch of drivers. Among them: Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton.

Lap 198: What racing! The team matchups — Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon vs. Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher — featured some great runs. It peaked with Busch making a move from single-file with about four laps to go to take the lead from the RFK Racing duo. Then Daniel Suarez spins out on Lap 198. Caution comes out. We got overtime. “Back in 1998, that would be the win boys!” Busch jokes over the team radio. Busch is looking for his first Daytona 500 win.

Lap 186: 13 laps to go... and we’re green once more!

Lap 181: Wreck! Caution is out! Cars got loose and spun out toward the back of the pack. Among those involved: Ryan Preece, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe and Kevin Harvick. Preece and Briscoe have driven into the garage; their days are done. Tough break for Truex: The veteran driver and former Cup champion was in the mix for his first Daytona 500 win today; the 19 is still out there, but he sustained bad damage.

Lap 175: Fords pit. And thus begins what will be the final pit stops under green. Two Toyotas — Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. — pit next. They will have to work hard to not fall too far.

Lap 155: Checking in. Here’s the Top 10: Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Corey LaJoie, Ryan Preece, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton and Michael McDowell. RFK Racing having a fantastic day thus far; Keselowski already has a stage win to his name today.

Lap 140: Ryan Blaney, who was involved in the Tyler Reddick incident, appears to have an issue with his right-front tire, which left a bunch of debris on Turn 2. That prompts the race’s second non-stage caution of the day. Blaney quickly goes a lap down.

Lap 134: We’re under yellow for only the third time today. Ross Chastain is busted for speeding on pit road after his stage win. He’ll serve a pass-through penalty. Who has filtered into the lead? Bubba Wallace. He stayed out during the caution. The 23 car got run into the fence late in Stage 1, but that hasn’t fazed Wallace’s team. Also of note: Kyle Busch is back on the lead lap after serving a devastating speeding on pit road penalty in Stage 2. He got the free pass. Can the 8 car rise back up through the field?

Stage 2

Lap 130: Ross Chastain wins Stage 2 by the slimmest of margins. He did so on the inside line, edging out Alex Bowman, who was running on the outside. Chastain can thank Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano for that one; they both gave Chastain two pretty good shoves that proved to be the difference. All drivers earning stage points: Chastain, Bowman, Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Cindric, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell.

Lap 121: Just in: Erik Jones and Chase Elliott are done for the day after that crash. Under yellow, Jimmie Johnson penalized for speeding on pit road.

Lap 117: Tyler Reddick spins out in the wall! Turn 4. Left-front smashed. A ton of damage to Chase Elliott’s 9 car right-front. Also heading down pit road: Ryan Blaney and Erik Jones. This prompts the second caution of a largely clean race.

Lap 107: Almost half the field comes down pit road. Mostly Chevrolets. That’s two green pit stops. Kyle Busch penalized for speeding on pit road. Tough for the 8 car. He then serves a pass-through penalty on the ensuing lap.

Lap 83: Jimmie Johnson, the Legacy Motor Club part-owner and seven-time Cup Series champion, qualified on speed and then started from the back. He’s now climbed into the Top 10. That 84 car is fast.

Lap 79: Great run thus far. Ty Dillon’s day is done, and six other drivers are not on the lead lap — but other than that, the rest of the field 30-plus-car field is separated by 2.1 seconds. Only caution that has come so far is because of the stage break.

Lap 71: Green green green!

Lap 69: Still under yellow here. As the field has shaken out post-pit road: Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Kevin harvick, Aric Almirola and Michael McDowell running the Top 5.

Stage 1

Lap 65: The field goes by a few lapped cars, and Brad Keselowski has taken advantage, passing the leaders on the outside on a turn. That’s why he’s known as one of the best speedway racers on the circuit. That gives him the Stage 1 win. Others earning stage points: Keselowski, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Todd Gilliland.

Lap 52: Bubba Wallace was running well on the top line before getting run into the fence. Appears like a bump-draft-gone wrong from Martin Truex Jr., who was running right behind him. The 23 car is immediately off-pace and has to run down pit road. We stay green. Top five are Toyotas.

Lap 42: After various pits, now Chase Briscoe leads pack on the inside line. Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick are also in the mix. The 50 car — run by IndyCar star Conor Daly — lost the draft a while ago and is now running a lap down.

Lap 37: Fords head to pit road. That includes Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and others. A handful of other cars follow on the next lap. All getting fuel; some getting right-side tires. Riley Herbst spins out going onto pit road — but we stay green. Herbst will have to do a pass-through penalty for commitment line violation. Travis Pastrana, too, has to serve a pass-through penalty for going through too many pit boxes on his exit.

Lap 28: The 77 heads to pit road and then to the garage. Ty Dillon. Also of note in the back of the race: Ross Chastain running in 38th. Everyone still on the lead lap.

Lap 20: The inside line has made a strong resurgence. Kyle Larson has taken the lead, thanks to Joey Logano (running right behind the 5) and a whole bunch of great speedway-racers in that line. Behind Logano: Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin.

Lap 12: Joey Logano has stuck close behind Kyle Larson after the 5 car, leading the inside line, pulled ahead of the outside line. Christopher Bell then moves around Alex Bowman and starts leading the outside line. He’s taking over P1. (Breaking news: The 20 car is fast!)

Lap 3: Alex Bowman, the race’s pole winner, and Kyle Larson leading the pack thus far. Hendrick always has speed at Daytona. Field quite compact. Cloud covering and brand-new tires has kept the field close. Slipping-and-sliding will ensue soon.

Green flag at 3:16 p.m.: Let’s do this!

2:59 p.m.: Richard Petty, Bill Elliott, Kurt Busch, Bobby Allison, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick — all Daytona 500 winners and Cup champions — gave today’s command. Engines fired now. Thunderbirds have done their flyovers, booming over the racetrack with what their PR spokesperson called “the sound of freedom.”

2:18 p.m.: Green flag is set to drop at 3:14 p.m. Driver introductions going on now.

2:13 p.m.: Dierks Bentley concert is going on. Infield packed. NASCAR announced during his concert that the country music star will also perform the pre-race concert for the NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 21. It’ll be the speedway’s first NASCAR Cup Series race since 1996.

12:43 p.m.: About 1.5 hours until driver introductions. Cody Ware’s 51 car is through tech after failing the first time. That means Kyle Busch is the only one dropping to the rear to start the race because he’s using a backup car (after his primary one got dinged up in Thursday’s Duels).

11:29 a.m.: Local forecasts predict a beautiful, partly cloudy, dry, 78-degree day. It hasn’t been a perfect-weather weekend, though: Friday’s truck race, won by Zane Smith, was cut short by 21 laps because of rain.

11:17 a.m.: A bunch of big names have rolled through the media center this morning. That includes Bethume-Cookman President Lawrence M. Drake, who announced a partnership with NASCAR; Daytona International Speedway president Frank Kelleher, who announced an eighth-straight sell-out for the Daytona 500; and country music star Dierks Bentley, who will be providing the pre-race concert.

11:10 a.m.: Some reading before The Great American Race: Richard Petty relives the first Daytona 500 in 1959; why Bubba Wallace loves the Daytona 500; why Kyle Busch is at-times frustrated by the Daytona 500; how Denny Hamlin’s new podcast is changing the game; how the Daytona 500 could set the stage for NASCAR’s next generation; and why actor Frankie Muniz is pursuing a racing career at 37 years old. (Oh — and Jimmie Johnson, Travis Pastrana and Conor Daly will make history.)

How to watch, listen, stream, purse

• Race: DAYTONA 500
• Place: Daytona International Speedway
• Date: Sunday, February 19
• Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
• Purse: $26,934,357
• TV: FOX, 1 p.m. ET
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Stream: FOX Sports, FuboTV
• Distance: 500 miles (200 laps)
• Stages: Stage 1 (ends on Lap 65), Stage 2 (ends on Lap 130), Stage 3 (ends on Lap 200).

Daytona 500 starting lineup

This story was originally published February 19, 2023 at 11:19 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription