Twenty years after Dale Earnhardt Sr. won the Daytona 500, the No. 3 car is back in victory lane thanks to Austin Dillon. 

A spin by rookie William Byron brought out the caution late in the Great American Race, setting up the first of two restarts with seven laps remaining. With just two laps remaining a 12-car pile-up forced overtime, leaving just six lead-lap cars without damage. 

Aric Almirola led entering Turn 3 but was turned, allowing Dillon to take advantage for his second career win. 

Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. finished second followed Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Chris Buescher.

Danica Patrick ended her NASCAR career with an 35th-place finish after getting caught up in a hard crash along with Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, race-favorite Brad Keselowski and others with 19 laps remaining in Stage 2. Patrick, who announced her retirement at the end of last season, will drive in May's Indianapolis 500 for her final motorsports race.

Also crashing out of the race was veteran driver Jimmie Johnson. Entering his 17th full-time season, Johnson will have to wait until next Sunday's race at Atlanta to embark on his trek to overtake Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with an eighth title. Johnson was one of seven drivers caught up in a wreck on the final lap of the first stage. He finished 38th. 

2018 Daytona 500 results

  1. Austin Dillon
  2. Bubba Wallace
  3. Denny Hamlin
  4. Joey Logano
  5. Chris Buescher 
  6. Paul Menard
  7. Ryan Blaney
  8. Ryan Newman
  9. Michael McDowell
  10. AJ Allmendinger
  11. Aric Almirola
  12. Justin Marks
  13. Trevor Bayne
  14. David Gilliland
  15. Clint Bowyer
  16. Jamie McMurray
  17. Alex Bowman
  18. Martin Truex Jr. 
  19. Kyle Larson
  20. Gray Gaulding
  21. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  22. Mark Thompson
  23. William Byron
  24. D.J. Kennington
  25. Kyle Busch
  26. Kurt Busch
  27. Matt DiBenedetto
  28. Brendan Gaughan
  29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 
  30. David Ragan
  31. Kevin Harvick
  32. Brad Keselowski
  33. Chase Elliott
  34. Kasey Kahne
  35. Danica Patrick
  36. Erik Jones
  37. Daniel Suarez
  38. Jimmie Johnson
  39. Ty Dillon
  40. Corey LaJoie

Stage 1 winner: Kurt Busch

Stage 2 winner: Blaney