Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes second Daytona 500 win

Daytona Beach, Fla. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. triumphed in the rain-delayed, action-packed Daytona 500 holding off the assault of several others over the final laps to win the Great American Race for the second time.

Race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Getty Images

“Man, this is a great feeling,” Earnhardt said in an emotionally charged voice. “I didn’t know I’d get a chance to win one of these things again. This is a lot better than the first one because of how hard we tried after finishing second year after year. This race car was awesome and we showed them what a good car we had."

“At the end, we got a little help from Jeff (Gordon). This is amazing and I can’t believe this is happening. I will never take this for granted because this happened not once but twice. I am really thankful.”

Denny Hamlin finished a close second and Brad Keselowski took third.

Jeff Gordon ended up fourth with 2013 Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson in fifth. Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Greg Biffle, Austin Dillon and Casey Mears rounded out the top-10 finishers.

The Great American Race started on time and ended 10 hours later after a six hour and 21 minute time-out, sending the race from day-time mode to night-time. From the outset, the competition was intense and never let-up until the checkered flag.