DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Erik Jones won a crash-filled NASCAR race Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, passing 2017 series champion Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap, then wildly celebrating the first victory of his Cup Series career.
Jones was involved in one of the many wrecks, but the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota was still in good enough shape to get by Truex. The Furniture Row Racing driver, who was going for his fourth victory this year, blamed himself for failing to see Jones coming in his rear-view mirror.
Truex finished second, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Chris Buescher - another odd top-10 finisher at Daytona - Ty Dillon, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Newman and Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon.
For Jones, a 22-year-old Michigan native driving in his first season for JGR, the breakthrough victory came in his 57th career start.
"Oh, boy," he said. "How about that race, boys and girls? I thought we were out of it, and all of a sudden we're right back in it. My first Cup win. My first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win. What an awesome day."
Last year's race winner, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., had the most memorable run of the night. He started two early accidents that wrecked more than half the field and was part of two more cautions late.
Stenhouse took out Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and others. Jones was one of the lucky ones who avoided major damage.
"Definitely happy to see those guys get their first win," said Truex, who had Jones as a teammate at FRR last year. "For them to get it here at a really big race was cool to see."
It also may have been a much-needed victory for NASCAR's so-called Young Guns, the up-and-coming generation of drivers who had gotten most of the promotion but none of the wins in 2018 heading into Saturday.
International Speedway Corp. president John Saunders had pinned some of NASCAR's woes on the failure of the new crop of drivers that have failed to replace a crop of retired stars of the sport. Saunders said this past week the sport needed the stable of young drivers to come along and "start to win and build their brands."
Ryan Blaney and Darrell Wallace Jr. fired back at Saunders, saying the 20-somethings were trying their best to win.
Jones delivered, but it was Truex who took a jab at the critics, saying "now maybe ISC and those guys can be happier about those things."
Chevrolet didn't get the same relief. Its winless streak is now 18 races, its longest since a 31-race drought in 1981-82.