Daytona 500 2015: Final Results and Highlights from the Great American Race

The Daytona 500 lived up to its moniker as the Great American Race on Sunday, with cars going three-wide at over 200 mph for much of the afternoon. That was, until the anticlimactic end to the race under caution.

Regardless of how he did it, Joey Logano still pulled out his first Daytona 500 victory and only the second for Team Penske. He also did so in historic fashion, becoming the second-youngest driver to capture the checkered flag in the season opener.

Logano ran a solid race, rarely falling behind the pack and running up near the front for much of the afternoon. That allowed the Penske driver to avoid any "Big One" that might have occurred and keep a clean car.

Here's a look at the results following Logano's triumph:

Pos.	Driver	Laps Led
1	Joey Logano	31
2	Kevin Harvick	0
3	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	32
4	Denny Hamlin	4
5	Jimmie Johnson	39
6	Casey Mears	1
7	Clint Bowyer	0
8	Martin Truex Jr.	1
9	Kasey Kahne	0
10	Greg Biffle	2
11	David Gilliland	0
12	Sam Hornish Jr.	0
13	Michael Annett	1
14	Austin Dillon	0
15	Aric Almirola	0
16	Regan Smith	0
17	David Ragan	0
18	Johnny Sauter	0
19	Matt Crafton	0
20	A.J. Allmendinger	1

Full results can be found at NASCAR.com.

By the end of the race, Logano led a total of 31 laps before celebrating in Victory Lane. The driver known as "Sliced Bread" had finally stepped up on the biggest stage following his best season at the Sprint Cup level in 2014.

Most importantly, Logano virtually clinched a spot in the Chase thanks to his victory. He kept things short and sweet the morning after on Twitter:

Logano may have won, but 42 other drivers were left heartbroken.

Three drivers likely the most upset were from Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. dominated Speedweeks but couldn't quite pull out a win. If one of the three had won, Hendrick would have tied Petty Enterprises for the most 500 victories with nine.

Instead, it was left wondering what might have been.

One costly mistake late in the race left Earnhardt fighting back during the final laps after pacing the field for much of the afternoon. Nate Ryan of NBC Sports passed along comments from the 2014 Daytona 500 winner:

Junior was able to recover from his mistake. Gordon, on the other hand, didn't have a chance.

During his final season opener during a full-time season, Gordon was taken out in the final crash that caused the race to end under yellow. After leading the most laps with 87, he went from a potential top-five finish to 33rd.

Despite the disappointing finish, Gordon was still upbeat about his effort, per Gray Caldwell of HendrickMotorsports.com:

"

For some reason I'm still smiling and enjoying every moment of it. I am just in a different place that is so foreign to me, but so incredible. To just be taking it all in and enjoying every moment. Yeah, right now I'm a little bit sad this is my final Daytona 500, but I'm more upset we didn't have a shot at winning there at the end.

"

When the checkered flag waved, three Hendrick cars still wound up in the top 10. Earnhardt recovered to finish in the top five along with Johnson, while Kasey Kahne garnered a ninth-place result. With the circuit now heading to Atlanta, Kahne has confidence after winning the Georgia race last season.

To make a long story short, this is going to be an entertaining year for NASCAR. With so many young stars like Logano and Kyle Larson, along with veterans like Gordon and Earnhardt, there should never be a dull weekend.

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