DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Trevor Bayne held off Carl Edwards to win the Daytona 500 today at Daytona International Speedway, at age 20, the youngest ever driver to take the checkered flag.
"I keep thinking I'm dreaming," Bayne said immediately after the race. "Our first 500 -- are you kidding me?" This was only Bayne's second Sprint Cup race. He finished 17th in a 2010 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Bayne, driving for Wood Brothers Racing, became the youngest Daytona 500 winner. With Edwards second, David Gilliland, Bobby LaBonte and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 5 finishers. Bayne grabbed the lead the lead shortly before the final restart and maintained it over the final six laps to win his first Cup Series race and the Wood Brothers' fifth Daytona 500.
A total of 182,000 people attended the race, while 15.6 million watched it on television, according to NASCAR.