Pretty much nothing happened in the first 65-of-75 laps of NASCAR’s Busch Clash, an exhibition event, at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. And then to make up for lost time, there were several crashes in the final 10 scheduled laps and into overtime.
And by the time the white flag flew to signal the last official lap, there were only six cars still on the track for a race that began with 18.
But somehow, with a car that limped across the finish line, Erik Jones in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota survived multiple wrecks and won the race with a big assist from teammate Denny Hamlin behind him.
Amazingly, Jones is missing a huge chunk of his hood, and the look of the car led to FOX Sports’ Mike Joy describing the victory with a hilarious quote:
“Erik Jones is going to win the Busch Clash with a car thats ready for the dumpster!”
Ignore the part where Joy’s broadcast partner, legendary racer Jeff Gordon, says Hamlin is on the lead lap and opting not to fight Jones for the lead. Hamlin was one lap down with only Jones, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman on the lead lap.
It’s really pretty remarkable that Jones had enough in that car to not just survive the final laps but get and hold onto the lead.
The first of several wrecks in the 75-lap exhibition event was at the end of Lap 66 when Joey Logano blocked Kyle Busch and ignited a multi-car crash. But that was far from it. In fact, there were so many wrecks that the race was extended to 88 laps because of overtime, making it the longest Clash, according to FOX Sports’ broadcast.
Here’s a look at the chaos on the Daytona track:
