Denny Hamlin and the Toyota brigade spent the entire first Stage of the 2020 Daytona 500 in the back of the pack as they utilized a conservative approach.
However, in Stage 2 Hamlin and the other four Toyota teams went to the front and stayed there basically the entire Stage.
On the final lap of Stage 2, Hamlin — last year’s Daytona 500 winner — held off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who pulled out in an effort to win the Stage and his teammate Kyle Busch for the Stage win.
Hamlin now adds 10 NASCAR Cup Series championship points to his yearly total, and he will have one Playoff point come Playoff time.
Kyle Busch edged Stenhouse out for second place in the Stage coming off of turn four.
Martin Truex Jr. was fourth and Ross Chastain came home fifth in Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 entry, which is being aided by Chip Ganassi Racing this weekend.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott finished Stage 2 in sixth and seventh. Elliott was the Stage 1 winner.
Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 in Stage 2 and will all score Stage Points.
