We have a couple of 500 champions with logano and bayne up here so we have a nice mix in the front. Vince . Its hard to believe joey logano has been in the cup series for eight years already. Although he got plenty of attention as a much publicized 18yearold, now hes getting plenty of respect in the kbraj as one of the veterans as jeff noted. Already has one daytona 500 trophy, was the championship runner up last season. Mike, you mentioned the loose wheel. Todd gordon told me this week we have to execute in every facet, and thats including dodging the bullet if we have a problem. Weve got to execute and recover and they have done just that from that loose wheel early. They have, indeed, recovered and now theyre battling for another daytona 500 win. Tremendous comeback for logano and team from that loose wheel early. Thats what the best teams do. When you talk about Jimmie Johnson winning eight seven championships with hendrick and other champions that weve seen. Kyle busch, they know how to come back to recover, never give up. Yeah, it is. This is a battle. This is a fight. I mean, these guys are fighting for everything theyre worth right now and theyre putting it all on the line. Theyre willing to wreck each other to get into victory lane. Kyle larson in the 42 has been side by side with logano in the last eight laps. Cant get ahead, cant clear him. What needs to happen for this log jam to change . Its going to change. Not that. Its going to change right now because Chase Elliott got a big run behind joey logano in the 22. This is the time when joey is fine with the 24 hitting him. You can push me out to the lead all you want, just dont run into the side of me. It looks like the 42 isnt getting enough help from behind. He needs the 41, the 6, the 5, all of them to stack up and be right on top of one another to get a big enough push to go to the front. Theres a couple of chevrolets but theres a 41. Theres a bunch of hungry chevrolets lined up behind him. Theres truex. Hes fought his way back into the picture. Dont count him out yet. No, sir. The average age of the top three, 23. Theres that move by truex right there. Watch Austin Dillon go with him. Boy, menard, did he oh, he made a big mistake right there. Thats going to cost him dearly. He was hanging right there, too. Gung ho for the pushing. Watching the 24. I think that spotter keeping an eye on that 24. 31 laps to go. Joey logano trying to hold on. Chase elliott, kyle larson and martin truex. Were going to keep it right here. Sfx engine revving silence im back get to the chopper hasta la vista, baby. Mobile strike download and play now. Free, from the app store. Getting food to hungry older amerand it wont. Stop hey, these are our parents and grandparents out there. Lets Start Talking about how we can really get to the route of the problem. Hey, we hear you. Fighting hunger doesnt stop here. Im working with aarp foundations drive to end hunger team to change the National Conversation around hunger, bring experts together, and make programs better than ever. If you dont think were in this together when you think aarp, then you dont know aarp. Learn more at aarp. Org possibilities. Five dollars. A onepiece breast. Hmm, pot pie costs you five bucks. Thats a famous bowl, five bills. Tenders for a fiver. And thats my twopiece original recipe, also five dollars. Thats five real meals, each for five bucks. Kfc, its Finger Lickin good. Chase elliott in the 24 chevrolet pulled hard on the outside with a little drafting help from martin truex and the son of twotime 500 winner bill elliott forged back to the lead, albeit briefly. As logano storms back on the inside. This is a battle right here, ford versus chevrolet with a toyota back there. Manufacturer battle, not only that, but these guys, joey logano is trying to win his second daytona 500. You saw what materialized to make that happen. Martin truex jr. , he gets a big run on the outside. Chase elliott moves up in front of him. Thats all it took. Now he got into the back behind the 22, got a big draft and he took advantage of that big run he had and went to the outside. Didnt clear him but he got there. You were riding with the 3, Austin Dillon in third. His grandfather, Richard Childress, was the owner when Dale Earnhardt finally took the 3 to victory lane in 1998. Now larry and i have discussed fuel. Is it a concern for anybody on pit lane, matt . It certainly is for the 41 of kurt busch. I spoke to tony gibson. He said at this point they are half a lap short. Gibson told me he talked to tony stewart. With all of stewarts experience as far as how much he can save while youre out there. Stewart said where kurt is running, you are matted. Youre not saving anything at that point. Thats exactly right. Youll get run over. You have to stay wide open. The 41 of kurt busch youre talking about. The one in the best position is the 3 car of Austin Dillon. He stayed for an extended time on pit road. He packed it with fuel. I think if anyone has any extra fuel, its Austin Dillon. Elliott moved out a little bit. Tried to help martin i think a tad. I like where that 24 is. Hes sitting in the cat birds seat now. 78, remember, he lost the daytona 500 by, what, a half a foot. Six inches maybe. He was ahead 15 feet from the start finish line and lost it in the closest daytona 500 finish ever. Hey, larry, ive just got to ask you. Were these crew chiefs were they right on the edge. Were they banking on cautions to come out . Weve seen so many today. Yeah, you know were lurking because if you look at the last ten daytona 500s, jeff, the last caution came at the average of lap 193 with seven to go. Eight times in the final ten laps i think we know when we get to 10 to 15 to go it would be a miracle if we go caution free. I think youre right, larry. All right. For more on fuel heres vince. Well, Austin Dillon is running up there towards the front. You see him in the 3 car behind logano. They say theyre good on fuel. Remember, they took the long pit stop even though they had right side tires. They lost eight stops but they stayed extra long in the box to make sure they packed it full of fuel. They say theyre good to go. The other teams in my area, the 22 of logano, the 24 of Chase Elliott, the 78 of martin truex, when i asked them they were all noncommittal. Last win for Richard Childress racing, phoenix, november 2013, 109 races ago. Lets listen in to team 24 and their young driver. Outside. Top is loose. Clear by two now. The tops coming. Kurt about to get a run. Logano two over the 3. Nose out top. Now even with him. Bottom nosed out. Bottom nosed out. Back. The tops tighter. Call voice of eddie dodge, the spotter. He was my spotter when i drove the 24 car. Nothing better than having experience on that roof to help walk you through these moments because right now Chase Elliotts trying to figure out which lane do i need to go with. What he does, he pun shalls tch hole. He jumps up to one lane. That keeps those two cars side by side behind him not allowing either one of them to get a run. Id be blocking the outside lane right now because it is far more organized than that inside. The question is, can Chase Elliott continue this dance for 21 more laps to win the 500. upbeat m music toyota. Lets go places. [car[clicking of ignition]rt] uh wha woof eeh woof wuh [silence] [engine roars to life] [dog howls] dramatic opera music swells from radio [howling continues] 20 years ago jeff gordon won his first daytona 500 in the hendrick number 24 chevrolet. Here is Chase Elliott trying to win his first. 17 laps to go as they come to the line. Past some slower cars. The damaged cars of david ragan and Kevin Harvick and now its a single car or single line draft. Single file. Elliott, you think about the week hes had. He won the pole, he won his qualifying race and he might be in the position to win this daytona 500. That would be his first win. What a great first win. I won the daytona my brother did that. Amazing win. Ive just got to believe everybody is settling in right now and when we get inside ten to go its not going to go quite the way it is right now. I dont like running this high line at this stage of the race. I think that works good in the middle portion of the race. You get everybody to follow along. You can, you know, kind of settle in, get nice and calm. This is not that time. Its getting ready to get wild and crazy. All they have to do is drop below in the corner. If anybody follows you, youre going to the back. Thats what youre worried about. Truex has a little body damage so im not sure how strong he would be if he can get out there. Lets listen in to the 78. Still straight line. Everybody straight line. Nobodys moving. Thats clayton hughes, the spotter. Still straight line. Still straight. 15 to go. He might stay in line right now, but in the next five or six laps i believe thats when youre going to start to see some of these further back make some moves. You know what i dhaul . A setup. Yes, thats what im afraid of. Everybody still straight line. In the high line. Nobody traveling. I call this half. Still straight line, bud. Still straight. You heard martin truex the driver say, i cant believe it. Some drivers like a lot of information. Some drivers want just the facts. Whatever they do still straight. Still straight. Listen to how calm they are. No panic. Theyre leaving that to the driver. Let him do the panicking. I just wonder how much that damage on the right front of truexs car would slow him down if he did look out. A set of three real slow. Running the bottom. Plenty of room. I mean, maybe Chase Elliott feels confident enough that he can block that move if they go to the inside, but to me its a lot easier to make somebody go to the high line and the long way around you and usually most people are going to hedge towards the bottom lane but in this case as hes running high, all it takes is one of those cars, at least the 78 in second to drop down and easily you can get inside of him. Lets drop back one more spot and listen to kurt busch and his stewarthaas ford team. Hows the fuel . Youll flip your switch with one to go. Flip the switch with one to go. Half a lap short on the fuel. Half a lap short. What these fuel cells have, they have two electric pumps and you run one right now and it actually has a Little Reservoir over there so they know how far they can go when they throw that second electric fuel pump up. Almost like a reserve tank, right . Exactly. How many did he say to go when they flip that. One to go. That gives him one lap. Hopefully it gives him one lap. Chase elliott continues to lead as they work slower traffic. Is he in the cat birds seat or is this not the place to be . Well, i think hes where he needs to be and ill tell you why. The only reason i think that is because i dont think truex has the car to jump out and make the pass. I think that fender damage he has, he can ridedraft along wit chase. I like being up front, being in the lead. You know that theyre going to get side by side somebody is going to make a big move, its just whether or not you can get in front of it. If they start racing one another behind you youre in an even better position. Its when they all line up and decide to make that move and go together to try to shuffle you back. A little bit of what jeff was talking about, think of matt kenseth last year coming to the checkered flag and denny hamlin dove under matt kenseth, got him loose and was able to win the race. That could happen in this situation. The other thing that i want to if im eddie dehan, dont get too far out. Dont allow them to get too far back and get a big run on you. Chevrolets coming out of the second pack and pulling up. When they get there this will cause a little bit more energy. Youll see the cars sort of surge forward and get some big runs so when that happens youve got to be prepared. Youre going to feel a little bit more of some pushing and pulling from that long stream of cars. Last time by 46. 73. See what it is this time. Coming to the line, ten laps to go. Man. How long do they plan to wait . Not that they cant make a run on him right now. They can. They dont want to make it too early. Turn it back on for a minute. In 58 prior daytona 500s, ten times the race has been decided with a last lap pass. Last time by they were here goes one. Menard . We knew that back. You cant wait until two or three to go. If youre going to try to make a move, youve got to start making a move now. Blaney moved down to pick up the three chevrolets, menard, allmendinger and dillon. Now blaney by himself. Side by side back there. That can only help Chase Elliott. These three cars, truex jr. , kurt busch, the 42 of larson, they cannot get enough energy by themselves. They need help. They need other cars pushing in order to get enough of a run to go by him. Heres the Second Place Team truex on fuel. Everybodys trying to save a little pfuhl i think is whats going on. What do we need . Were right at it. Anything you can save is what weve got to the good. I saved it all. Okay. Coming to eight laps to go. In that draft are 11 cars. Any one of which could win the 500. The only ones i can think of that are set for fuel are some of these further back. Joey logano, we know he doesnt want to save fuel. Theres no way he feels like he can win the race back there. Maybe hes letting off saving fuel. I really dont think theyre saving fuel. I dont either. Thats the furthest thing from his mind. If i run out of fuel, i run out of fuel. I come here to race. I just wondered if anybody has enough get up and go to pull around and pass that 24 car. I dont think they do. Look at this. All theyve got to do all truex has to do is when we enter into the corner and 24 goes up high, he just has to turn down to the bottom and sort of catch him off guard but he needs somebody to go with him. The 1 preferably. What are you going to do . Youre Chase Elliott. Youve made your bed. Youre committed to the top line. I would start running the bottom. Drop to the bottom now . Im not real comfortable running this high lane now. Guys, we talked about it at the top of the show. Im on the pit box. This is the daytona 500. No more saving fuel. If you run out, you run out. This is the biggest race of the year. Thats it, brother. Chase elliott held the lead for the final 23 laps to win his duel race at the starting lineup and in that front 11 cars, only that yellow car at the bottom, joey logano, has driven by a driver who has won the 500. Mike, i won this race in 1989 and i held my breath for one whole lap because they said i couldnt make it, but i was determined to win the daytona 500 that day and we did. Thats what youre seeing here right now. These guys are determined to win this race. Vince . Chase elliotts crew chief Alan Gustafson told me earlier today when we were talking about the race playing out very similar to the way it is playing out leading in the late stages. We can control our execution and we cant control our luck and you need plenty of it to win here. He said, this race is grueling mentally because theres always drama for you at every turn and you Better Believe that stomach is churning right now on the crew chief. Five laps to go, and in the top nine there is only one driver who has never won in what is now the Monster Energy nascar cup series and hes the leader. This could be what a great week this would be for that 24 car. Jeff, he won the pole. He won his qualifying race and hes got a pretty good chance of winning this 500. Hes got an excellent chance. Its anywhere but over now. We have way too much racing to go. Five laps in daytona, thats a long ways. Baby, i dont know. I think that 24 is 24 carat gold today. I hope youre right. Hes looking pretty good. Ill take my if im going to go anywhere, i want to be where he is. Guess who the last driver was to win the pole, win the thursday qualifying race and win the daytona 500 . His son is in the lead. Bill elliott. Oh, wow. Whew well, it wont be long now until we know. Bill has taught this young manuel no matter what the results end up here today. Theres that little lead you were talking about. He got a little bit out in front of the 78 and the 41. That doesnt bother Chase Elliott too much because theres another gap back to the 42. Theyve all got to stack up and then a big gap between the 78 and 24. I think that martin look at this, 42 of larsson is making a move. This is going to change everything right here. Well, it would if somebody goes with him. He slid up. Right in there. What a move. Slide job. We know that 42 scar aggressive. How cool is that . He drove down there. They didnt go with him. Able to slide up there and never lose any momentum. I think that surprised kurt busch. I think that surprised kyle larson. I think he was surprised nobody went with him. Joey logano to the inside. Hell get a little help maybe from ryan blaney. Side draft there. 42, youve got an aggressive young man that might be willing to push that 78. Hes got a run. Hes going out of fuel. Out of fuel. Oh, no oh, no. Youre kidding . Great opportunity for martin truex jr. Here. Now the question is can the 78 hold these guys off. Can he do it . Two laps to go. Sounds like maybe just stumbled a little bit. He was able to flip that switch for that reserve. Now its back running again but just lost all the momentum. No, i think here comes larsson. Kyle larson to the bottom for the lead. Hes going to clear him. Here comes the 41 now, big run. The race is on now, boys. Its anybodys race now. Wow. Again, i dont like this high line. I just think you get too many opportunities to get a run and make moves on the inside. Theres a guy right there running in second right now thats finished third in this thing three times. The white flag waves one lap to go sponsored by credit one bank. When i think of experience and knowledge here at daytona, i think of kurt busch. Hes been so close so many times. Pushed his teammate here one time. Is anybody going to help him. The 21, where did he come from . Ryan blaney, what a surprise. With logano and blaney. The 22. 42 is out of gas. Who else is going to run out . 21. Im not too sure. Hes okay. The 41 can get up behind the 21, he might get there. This might be kurt buschs day. Looks like hes going to come home a winner. Kurt busch has been the bridesmaid in the daytona 500. He