"How about that race, boys and girls?" - Erik Jones

Erik Jones claims first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series checkered flag by passing Martin Truex Jr. in double overtime to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway

In a crazy race that resembled a demolition derby, Erik Jones proved you only need to lead the final lap to win by passing Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 168 and holding on to win by .125 seconds in double overtime Saturday night at Daytona. Jones recovered from being a lap down after sustaining damage in a multi-car wreck on Lap 65 to capture his first career Cup Series victory. The final lap was the only lap he led in the entire race.

"My first Cup win, my first win at Daytona, my first superspeedway win — what an awesome day, man!" said Jones. "There’s so much smoke in the car from that burnout, I can hardly breathe, but what an awesome finish."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. triggered the first major wreck of the night on Lap 54 when he bumped Brad Keselowski from behind, spinning him into Kurt Busch in Turn 3. 24 cars in total were involved in the accident that ended the night for Keselowski, Busch, pole-sitter Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Keselowski blamed himself for the wreck after William Byron tried to block him from making a run and he braked instead of hitting the rookie driver.

"It was just a bad block," Keselowski said. "There are times you can make a block, there are times you can't. When you got a guy with a big enough run and you can't throw a block. I made the mistake of lifting instead of wrecking him and that's my fault. I take the blame."

Despite accepting the blame, Keselowski pointed to the inexperience of young drivers like Byron at restrictor-plate races being the real culprit of the wreck and issued a warning to other drivers going forward.

"You've got a list of drivers that are making moves that they're unqualified to make and it causes big wrecks," Keselowski said. "That was one of those. And it was my fault because I lifted. So we'll wait until Talladega and every one of those rookie drivers or guys that don't know what the hell they are doing we'll drive through them and wreck them until they stop blocking us and we don't have this problem no more."

Stenhouse wasn't done causing trouble, on Lap 65 he bumped into Kyle Busch and sent him spinning into race leader William Byron, knocking both cars out of the race.

"I tried to side-draft the 18 (Busch) in the wrong place," Stenhouse said on his team radio.

The race was sent into overtime after a four car accident on Lap 155 brought out the yellow flag. Martin Truex Jr. was positioned to win the race in the first overtime when Clint Bowyer hit the wall, starting another accident that ended his night along with Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Trevor Bayne. The wreck resulted in another extended yellow flag caution period which forced the race into a second overtime.

Jones and Truex started side by side for the last re-start, but Kasey Kahne made a big move and pushed Truex into the lead heading into the final lap. Jones received a push from Chris Buescher down the backstretch on the final lap to speed by Kahne and Truex for the win.

"He (Jones) got a big run getting into (Turn) 1 and through the center, and I just didn’t block him good enough in the middle of 1 and 2," Truex said. "He got to my right rear quarter — just barely — enough to slow me down off of 2, and then the race was on from there. Just missed that block a little bit. I’ve got to get better at my mirror-driving. I’ve never really been good at that, and unfortunately, that’s part of this racing here, but I’m really proud to get to the end."

The top-five finishers after all the mayhem was settled were Jones, Truex, A.J. Allmendinger, Kahne and Buescher. Truex's second place finish is only his second career top-five at Daytona in 27 career starts. Buescher also finished in fifth place at the Daytona 500 earlier this season.

When all the smoke cleared, only 20 out of the 40 cars that started the race were still on the track for the finish. Only 13 of those cars finished on the lead lap. These statistics show why restrictor-plate races are the biggest crapshoots in NASCAR.

Regardless of being the main instigator in two of the biggest wrecks, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. captured the checkered green for Stages 1 and 2, claiming two bonus points for the postseason. After the race, Stenhouse didn't feel the need to apologize to any of his fellow drivers.

"No, it’s aggressive speedway racing," Stenhouse said. "We needed to win to get in the Playoffs, so it is what it is."

NASCAR wasn't so sure, the sanctioning body sent extra security to escort him through the garage after the race. Stenhouse finished in 17th place despite leading a race-high 51 laps after receiving serious damage to his car in an accident on Lap 124.

Click here for full race results.

Kyle Busch remains the leader of the NASCAR drivers points standings. Kevin Harvick sits in second place 57 points behind Busch, while Martin Truex Jr. moves into third 120 points behind. Joey Logano slips into fourth place 131 points behind Busch.

You can see the updated Driver's Points Standings here.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to the Bluegrass State next week for the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway on July 14th.

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_{Photo credits: Royalbroil CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons}

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_{Author: @chops316
Editor: @liberty-minded}

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