Daytona 500 Results: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Wins Race

The 65th edition of the Daytona 500 has ended and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. comes out on top. The 35-year-old driver beat Joey Logano to win NASCAR’s biggest race of the 2023 Cup Series season in overtime. It’s the first time he’s won the Daytona 500 and the third race he’s won in his Cup Series career. 

This year’s Daytona 500 was special because it kicked off NASCAR’s 75th anniversary. The 2023 Cup Series season will be an interesting one as there are a few rule changes such as Ross Chastain’s “Hai Melon moved” has been outlawed, and the “top 30 in points” for playoff eligibility has been removed. This year also marks the return of Jimmie Johnson who retired from NASCAR after the 2020 season. He spent the last two years in the IndyCar series and is now racing part-time for Legacy Motor Club as he’s a part-owner. 

“So when I left here, I really had no idea what was in store for me,” Johnson said when he announced his return late last year, per NASCAR.com. “I knew I wanted to try IndyCar and had an amazing experience there. And stepping away from full-time IndyCar, I wanted to create a good eight-to-10-race schedule with just really fun races, and then certainly coming back to NASCAR. And as this conversation started, it’s just … it’s one that I really had to pay close attention to, and an offer and an opportunity that, it’s just a life-changing opportunity for me and one that I had to take. So I’m very excited about this.”  

Another big change for NASCAR is a street race has been added to the Cup Series schedule. In July, NASCAR will be heading to Chicago to host “Chicago Stree Race Weekend,” and it’s the first of its kind for the organization. “Like the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, we seized an incredible opportunity to add an unprecedented element to our schedule and take center stage in the heart of another major metropolitan market,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR senior vice president of racing development and strategy, in a statement last year, per NBC Sports. 

“This is the ideal setting for the first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race. The NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen cars and the IMSA machines will race along the shores of Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago, marking a truly historic moment for our sport.”