DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR Cup rookie Austin Cindric held on in an overtime shootout to win the Daytona 500 for Team Penske on Sunday.
At 23 years and 212 days old, Cindric is the second-youngest driver to win the event, according to ESPN Stats & Information research, following Trevor Bayne, who was 20 years and 1 day when he won the race in 2011.
It was Cindric’s first NASCAR Cup Series win in eight career starts.
Denny Hamlin crashed out of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, ending his bid for a fourth victory in NASCAR’s premier event. It was his first DNF in 17 starts in “The Great American Race.” Hamlin was caught up on a eight-car melee near the end of the opening stage.
Brad Keselowski was aggressively pushing Harrison Burton and eventually caused the rookie to lose control and turn sideways into Kyle Busch and William Byron.
Burton’s car flipped onto its roof before getting hit again and turning back onto its tires. Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain had nowhere to go and drove into the mess.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
