As the Sun rose on Daytona International Speedway, fans were already arriving. All excited. Because the 2016 season was officially about to begin. Chase Elliot took the green flag in his no. 24 Chevrolet, and the race was on.

For the first twenty of so laps, drivers were constantly shifting their lines, trying to get a feel for their cars. But with all the adjusting, someone was bound to somehow wreck. Unfortunately, Elliot was the one to do it. While riding on the outside lane, his car got loose, and he spun to the inside, narrowly missing other cars. While Chase managed to keep his car out of the wall, he ended up spinning into the infield grass, which tore the nose off his machine.

After Elliot’s spin, the race remained relatively calm, only interrupted by a spin from Brian Vickers, who was substituting for the injured Tony Stewart. But in almost every 500, there is usually at least one sizable wreck. On lap 91, it occurred.

Driving near the rear of the field, Chris Buescher and Matt DiBenedetto made contact, and each spun out of control, and multiple cars sustained damage. Matt got the worst of it, plowing nose first into the outside wall. It wasn’t a giant wreck, but it did cause some decent damage.

For the next 50 laps, drivers were racing non-stop, without any incidents. For the majority of this time period, the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr., (who is on a team allied with JGR) led the race.

Then, on lap 169, Dale Earnhardt Jr., both the fan favorite and pre-race favorite, spun out of control and pounded the inside wall, destroying his car. The crowd sighed. Their favorite driver was now out of the race.

Now that the race was in it’s final thirty laps, the pace began to pick up. Drivers at the rear of the field, struggled to gain position, and drivers at the front began to block more fiercely. For a time, the drivers managed to keep the race wreck free, but it was inevitable that someone would get wrecked again. Ironically, it was another crowd favorite. Danica Patrick was hit by Greg Biffle on the backstretch, and was sent spinning into the infield grass. For a moment Patrick was sent airborne, and she then landed on the ground, the front of her car destroyed.

There were now only about 10 laps remaining. Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag, followed by Brian Vickers, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and teammates Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin.

Vickers tried to get the outside lane of the pack to advance, so as to pass Kenseth, but he didn’t have enough drafting help, and he slipped back. For the next 5 laps, Kenseth ran out front, unchallenged. Then, Harvick leapt to the outside lane, once again trying to gain on Kenseth. But while he managed not to lose position, he didn’t gain any either.

Finally, the white flag waved. It seemed Kenseth would win his third Daytona 500. But Denny Hamlin had other plans. Hamlin, who was 3 cars behind Matt, jumped in front of Harvick. And somehow, he managed to drive forward on the backstretch, passing both Busch and Truex Jr.

Hamlin went high, trying to pass Kenseth there. But just as Kenseth moved up to block Hamlin, Denny dropped down low, and bumped Kenseth out of the draft. But while Denny and Matt fought up high, Truex Jr. snuck to the inside lane. Now, with the finish line in sight, Hamlin and Truex were side by side. The two beat and banged, each scratching and clawing for every last inch they could get. The crowd roared, and the two drivers flashed across the finish line. No one new who won the race, but everyone new it had to be the best Daytona 500 finish in history. Everyone stared at the leaderboards, trying to see who had won. Suddenly  it flashed on the screen: Denny Hamlin, by 0.01 of a second! About 4 inches ahead of Truex! No Daytona 500 had ever been so close!

After 11 years of trying, Denny Hamlin, driver of the no. 11 Fedex car, had won the Daytona 500. And for the first time in 23 years, Joe Gibbs Racing had won the 500. And as if that wasn’t special enough, this was the first time a Toyota had won the Daytona 500. While Truex was sad to finish second, he was proud of the finish. Kenseth, who finished 14th, said, “The safer thing would have been for Hamlin to finish second, but we’re racing in the Daytona 500.” As for Hamlin, he was elated, leaping out of his car, and launching a great celebration.