Monday 22 February 2016 08:44, UK
Denny Hamlin secured Toyota their first Daytona 500 win after beating Martin Truex Jr in a thrilling photo-finish to the Great American Race.
Matt Kenseth was on course to become a three-time winner of the event when he led inside the final half-lap, but instead it was his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Hamlin who passed Truex only a few feet from the finish line to claim victory by a wafer-thin 0.01 seconds of a second, the smallest margin in the 58-year history of the race.
Kyle Busch, who gave Toyota their first NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers title last season, was third, to give the Japanese company an unprecedented sweep of the Daytona podium.
"This was a team victory. My team mates did an amazing job all day, working together," said the 35-year-old Hamlin as he celebrated his first Daytona 500 win.
"This is a proud moment for everyone at Toyota. It was my 11th try at getting the Daytona 500. I don't know where that came from. I don't even know what I did, but it just all came together. I just got the push."
Hamlin had led almost half the race but with one lap to go sat fourth before making a daring push to the front, brushing past 2009 and 2012 winner Kenseth, who lost control and dropped back into the pack.
"They don't get any more crushing than that," said Kenseth. "We were unbelievably fast and that was the position I want to be in.
"I saw Denny was fast enough and I felt he was going to go around me if I didn't block him. I tried to get in front of him to get some momentum and I couldn't do it and got sideways there. We went for it and came up short."
With Kenseth out of contention, it was a sprint to the checkered flag and Hamlin, second in 2014 after Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed him on the final lap, erased that disappointment by going one better this time.
"I did all I thought I could do," said Truex. "I had the lead 20 feet from the line.
"I'm really proud of that effort. He just side drafted me. I probably should have run him up a bit more, but I thought we were close enough. Congrats to Denny. He got me by a couple feet."
Rookie Chase Elliott, son of twice Daytona 500 winner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, got his career off to a spectacular start by becoming the youngest ever Daytona pole sitter.
