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Watch: Epic Daytona 500 Crash Wipes Out Nearly Half the Field

By Dave Kovaleski February 18, 2019 at 10:46am

A massive crash with about 10 laps to go in the Daytona 500 on Sunday paved the way for Denny Hamlin to win his second Daytona 500 title.

With Kyle Busch and Hamlin in the lead, car No. 21 Paul Menard tried to make a move around car No. 95 Matt DiBenedetto, but he wound up causing DiBenedetto to spin out and take out 19 cars.

That was almost half the 40-car field.

WELP pic.twitter.com/09xqeRkCkC

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2019

“It was go time and I was pushing on 95,” Menard told Fox after the race. “It looked like he was trying to get to the middle so I tried to get to the outside and I just barely hooked him and … yeah, it wrecked a lot of cars.”

Menard took full blame for the crash.

“That was my bad,” he told Fox. “I wrecked a lot of cars and I feel bad about that.”

He did apologize to DiBenedetto and shook his hand, so there was no hard feelings.

DiBenedetto said it “wasn’t anything intentional” on Menard’s part, USA Today reported.

In addition to Menard and DiBenedetto, the crash took out Tyler Reddick, Matt Tifft, Chris Buescher, David Ragan, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon, according to Jalopnik. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

“I wrecked a lot of cars. I feel bad about that.” – Paul Menard pic.twitter.com/gUl1ht3guG

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2019

It was just one of several crashes Sunday. One of them was on pit road on lap 160.

Two drivers in their first Daytona 500, Cody Ware and BJ McLoed, spun out near the entrance to pit road, Jalopnik reported. They spun into Ricky Stenhouse Jr., seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson, and Reddick.

All were able to get back in the race except Ware.

Well that was interesting. pic.twitter.com/bMzWjQGU3X

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2019

The crashes essentially cleared out about half the field for Hamlin, who was able to cruise to victory, his second win at Daytona.

He won his first in 2016.

RT TO CONGRATULATE DENNY HAMLIN ON HIS DAYTONA 500 WIN! pic.twitter.com/KCSDG0ewVq

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 18, 2019

Kyle Busch finished second and Erik Jones placed third.

“I’m going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but I’m going to enjoy (this win) for the rest of my life,” Hamlin said, according to USA Today.

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Dave Kovaleski

Contributor, Sports

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Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.

Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.

Location

Massachusetts

Languages Spoken

English

Topics of Expertise

Sports