Denny Hamlin cruises to 2nd Daytona 500 victory in 4 years
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Denny Hamlin came to the Daytona 500 determined to honor his late car owner with a victory.
He delivered with a storybook tribute for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Hamlin won NASCAR’s biggest race for the second time in four years Sunday, leading JGR in a 1-2-3 sweep of the podium in overtime. The race and the season have been dedicated to J.D. Gibbs, Joe Gibbs’ eldest son who died last month after battling a degenerative neurological disease.
J.D. Gibbs helped his father start the race team, ran it while Joe Gibbs was coaching the Washington Redskins, was a tire changer on the team’s first Daytona 500 victory and the one who discovered Hamlin during a test session at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Hamlin was hired to drive the No. 11 — the number J.D. Gibbs used when he played football — and J.D. Gibbs’ name is on the Toyota.
When Hamlin stopped his car along the frontstretch to collect the checkered flag, he immediately credited J.D. Gibbs.
“The whole family, they did so much for me over the course of my career, and this one is for J.D,” Hamlin said. “We are desperately going to miss him the rest of our lies. His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing and proud to do this for them.”
Hamlin was met in victory lane by the entire Gibbs family, including J.D.’s widow and four sons.
“He meant a lot to me and it’s hard for me not getting choked up because I’ve been choked up about 100 times about it,” Hamlin said. “Just to have Melissa (Gibbs) and all the kids here, it’s just crazy.”
Joe Gibbs, the Hall of Fame NFL coach with three Super Bowl victories, ranked the tribute win to his son first in his career accomplishments.
“It is the most emotional and biggest win I’ve ever had in my life, in anything,” Gibbs said. “It was the most important night in my occupational life. I know J.D. and everybody in my family was emotional.”
Kyle Busch and Erik Jones finished second and third as JGR became the second team in NASCAR history to sweep the Daytona 500 podium. Hendrick Motorsports did it in 1997 with Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven.
Busch, now winless in 14 Daytona 500s, was initially openly disappointed in falling short.
“He’s got two, I’ve got none, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Busch said.
But he reiterated the JGR and Toyota goal of working together to win the race and noted he didn’t have much of a shot at beating Hamlin because the field had been decimated by a flurry of late accidents.
“Was trying to make sure one of us gets to victory lane, first and foremost,” Busch said. “There wasn’t enough cars out there running at the end. I don’t know how it would have played out.”
The Cup Series slogged through three uninspiring exhibition races during Speedweeks to cause concern over a potentially disappointing main event. Jim France, who took over as chairman of NASCAR last August, used the pre-race driver meeting to ask the drivers to liven up the activity. Hamlin and Chase Elliott were the rare drivers to use the bottom lane in the exhibition races while the rest of the field ran single-file along the top.
“I hope a few of you drivers out there will get down on the bottom with Denny and Chase and put on a good show today,” France told the field.
The drivers obeyed and delivered an action-packed and wreck-filled running of “The Great American Race.”
There was an accident on pit road, a 21-car crash, 12 cautions and five wrecks in the final 20 laps of regulation. The race was stopped twice for cleanup totaling nearly 40 minutes in the final stretch. During the second red-flag, one of NASCAR’s track-drying trucks broke down while cleaning oil off the racing surface.
Hamlin and Busch alternated as the leaders during the handful of late restarts, and the final rush to the checkered flag was a push to hold off Ford driver and reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano. The Ford camp went 1-2-3 in both of Thursday’s qualifying races and was favored to win the Daytona 500.
Logano, who started his career at JGR, settled for fourth and also took a moment to honor J.D. Gibbs.
“I’m not a Gibbs driver but for what J.D. has done for my career is the reason why I’m sitting here today,” Logano said. “As bad as I want to win it, it is pretty cool to think that the first race after his passing, to see those guys one, two, three, it just says he’s up there watching and maybe gave (those) guys a little extra boost there at the end.”
Michael McDowell was fifth in a Ford but aggravated Logano by not working with him in the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.
“I just told him that my team doesn’t pay me to push Joey Logano to a win,” McDowell said.
Ty Dillon was sixth in the highest-finishing Chevrolet.
The race featured eight drivers making their Daytona 500 debuts and rookie Ryan Preece, a short track racer from New England, was best in class with an eighth-place finish. Ross Chastain, the eighth-generation watermelon farmer who lost his main ride for this year when the FBI raided his sponsor right before Christmas, finished 10th,
Jamie McMurray, the 2010 winner, led six laps and was in the mix until he was collected in one of the late accidents. He finished 22nd in his final race before retirement.
William Byron and Alex Bowman were the youngest front row in race history but had little to show for it after the race. Bowman finished 11th and Byron, the pole-sitter, was 21st.
Hamlin last year suffered through his first winless season in the Cup Series and made a crew chief change during the offseason. When he won the 500 in 2016 it was his debut race with crew chief Mike Wheeler, and this victory came in his first race with Chris Gabehart.
Hamlin’s first Daytona 500 victory was in a photo finish against Martin Truex Jr. and the celebration was a blur. This one, he said, he will enjoy.
“I think I was so dumbfounded about everything that happened the first time with the photo finish and everything,” Hamlin said. “This one lets me soak it in a little bit more. I’m going to have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but I’m going to enjoy it the rest of my life.”
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Blackshear’s 29 power No. 22 Virginia Tech by Pitt 70-64
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kerry Blackshear Jr. was mid-answer when the sight of a couple of Virginia Tech teammates recording his postgame interview with phone in hand became a bit too intrusive.
“I’m panicking, boy,” Blackshear said. “You’ve got to get that off me.”
It was the first time all day the junior forward looked rattled. Blackshear poured in a season-high 29 points during a near flawless performance to lead the 22nd-ranked Hokies to a 70-64 victory over slumping Pittsburgh on Saturday.
The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Blackshear overwhelmed the undersized Panthers. He made 8 of 9 shots from the field, including all three of his 3-point attempts, and went 10 of 11 from the free throw line in addition to grabbing nine rebounds as Virginia Tech (20-5, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) reached the 20-win mark for the fourth consecutive season.
The last three wins have come despite missing senior point guard Justin Robinson, who remains out indefinitely with a toe injury. After an initial wobble — the Hokies lost two of their first three without Robinson — they have found their footing behind Blackshear.
“We have to play through him,” Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said. “He’s our best defender. He’s our best scorer. He’s our best passer. He’s our best playmaker and he has the best basketball IQ on our team.”
The Hokies relied on it when necessary against the Panthers. Blackshear scored a career-high 31 on 12-of-16 shooting last year against Pitt and was even more efficient this time around. Jumpers. Putbacks. Layups. Dunks. He was dominant from nearly start to finish no matter who the undersized Panthers put on him.
“I think they did a really good job of throwing different looks,” Blackshear said. “A couple of times I was like, ‘Oh wow.’ I didn’t know who was guarding me. They did a really good job of monstering, double-teaming the post but I found whoever was open.”
Though Pitt (12-14, 2-11) kept scrapping — at one point 6-3, 185-pound freshman Trey McGowens threw Blackshear to the floor as the two battled for a loose ball — the Panthers dropped their ninth straight.
Xavier Johnson led Pitt with 18 points. Sidy N’Dir chipped in 12 points and six rebounds but every time the Panthers appeared ready to make a push, the Hokies responded. When Johnson’s 3-pointer drew the Panthers within 48-46 with 7:28 to go in the second half, Virginia Tech knocked down three straight 3s of its own —including one by Blackshear to extend the advantage to 59-47.
“It’s an example of a veteran team, a team that’s been together and had some experience, that’s used to winning, to step up and make plays when we had momentum,” first-year Pitt coach Jeff Capel said.
Pitt eventually cut it to 63-56 on a pair of free throws by Johnson with 1:58 remaining and created a turnover in the backcourt when N’Dir stepped in front of a pass. Panther guard Kham Davis drove to the basket for a layup but the bucket was waved off when officials called Davis for a charge.
Blackshear immediately converted two free throws at the other end to make it 65-56 and Virginia Tech did just enough down the stretch to win its fourth consecutive meeting with Pitt.
CAVALIERS AWAIT
The Hokies’ poise down the stretch allows them to briefly exhale before a visit by fourth-ranked Virginia on Monday. The Cavaliers rolled in an 81-59 victory on Jan. 15. The Hokies know they need to be better in all phases this time around.
“Got to keep our poise,” Blackshear said. “I think they score just as good as anybody in the country. Defend just as good as anybody in the country. It’s going to be a big game. Cassell is going to be rocking. We look forward to it.”
STAYING UPBEAT
A year after going winless in the ACC, Pitt’s initially promising 2-2 start in the conference under Capel has faded though he remains impressed by his team’s effort.
“I understand how hard this is going to be and it’s not a quick fix,” Capel said. “We won a couple of games early and it changed some expectations for all of us. I think I’ve had a pretty good perspective on this. It’s hard. It’s really hard. It’s frustrating. We want to be better, but we’re getting better.”
BIG PICTURE
Virginia Tech: The Hokies seem to have overcome the offensive issues that plagued them as they tried to deal with the absence of their second-leading scorer in Robinson. Virginia Tech shot 51 percent (21 of 41) from the floor and 10 of 21 from 3-point range after shooting 48 percent in a win over Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
Pitt: The problem for the Panthers is in some ways a matter of mere physics. The Panthers lack the size to create any sort of offensive threat inside, allowing teams to play zone and force them to chuck it from deep. Defensively there’s little they can do against a legitimate post presence like Blackshear.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech: The Hokies fell behind by 22 in the first half in the initial meeting with the Cavaliers and never recovered.
Pitt: Visits Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
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This story has been corrected to show that Blackshear’s first name is Kerry.

King carries St. Francis (Pa.) over Robert Morris 72-69
LORETTO, Pa. (AP) — Jamaal King had 23 points as St. Francis (Pa.) stretched its win streak to seven games, narrowly beating Robert Morris 72-69 on Saturday night.
Mark Flagg had 12 points and three blocks for St. Francis (14-11, 10-4 Northeast Conference). Keith Braxton added 11 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Isaiah Blackmon had seven rebounds for the hosts.
Koby Thomas had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Colonials (13-14, 8-6). Matty McConnell added 13 points. Josh Williams and Charles Bain had 10 points apiece.
The Red Flash improve to 2-0 against the Colonials on the season. St. Francis defeated Robert Morris 76-73 on Jan. 31. St. Francis takes on St. Francis (NY) at home on Thursday. Robert Morris plays LIU Brooklyn at home on Thursday.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com