Kurt Busch wins his first Daytona 500

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — It’s safe to say Kurt Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing are very happy after Busch scored his first-ever win at Daytona in a nail-biter on Sunday.

Up until the very last lap, it appeared a victory at the Great American Race would once again elude Busch.  But then his No. 41 Ford Fusion passed Chase Elliot and Kyle Larson on the final lap to cinch his victory, and his 29th win in the Monster Energy Cup Series.

It didn’t hurt that more than a few of Busch’s competitors were eliminated in crashes, including Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and more.

Busch called the race, particularly the end, “one of the smartest chess games” he’d seen on the track, adding, “We got lucky.”

Here are the top-ten standings in the Monster Energy Cup Series following Sunday’s race:

  1. Kurt Busch — 48 points
  2. Ryan Blaney — 44
  3. AJ Allmendinger — 39
  4. Aric Almirola — 33
  5. Paul Menard — 32
  6. Joey Logano — 40
  7. Kasey Kahne — 30
  8. Michael Waltrip — 29
  9. Matt DiBenedetto — 28
  10. Trevor Bayne — 27

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