“Second is the worst, man”: Reigning NASCAR champion Joey Logano rues missed opportunity to win 2nd career Daytona 500

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano lost the 2023 Daytona 500 to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a double overtime thriller on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway.

Logano had a strong race but Stenhouse Jr. edged ahead of him on the final lap as a wreck behind them involving Aric Almirola and several other drivers caused the caution flag to come out. After a caution, Stenhouse Jr. was declared the winner of the most prestigious race, leaving Logano as the runner-up.

Despite his P2 finish in the season-opener, the result was bittersweet for Joey Logano as he knew that he missed the opportunity to add another crown jewel race to his growing Hall of Fame resume at Daytona International Speedway.

Speaking on what went wrong on the final lap of the second overtime at Daytona 500 during the post-race interview, Logano said:

“Second is the worst, man. You’re so close. Leading the white-flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle (Busch) gave me a good push, and, yeah, you’re watching in the mirror, and you’re three-wide across there. I felt like the three-wide was going to hurt a lane; looked like Kyle (Larson) was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead.”

He continued:

“I knew if I went to the bottom, my car didn’t handle good enough. I already got pushed off the bottom once, and I thought, if I go down there, I’m probably going to get wrecked, and I don’t know if I can get down there in time to throw the block and so I didn’t want to wreck my car either.”

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Joey Logano finished P2 in an overtime thriller at the season-opening Daytona 500

The #22 Ford driver led the fight six times in 12 laps in the fight for his second career Daytona 500 and started in fourth place for the final restart, sitting behind eventual race winner Rick Stenhouse Jr. in the outside lane. As the second overtime began, Logano gained the lead ahead of Stenhouse but a big push from Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell sent Stenhouse ahead of him and left him in second place.

The P2 finish also backed up an impeccable result in the days leading up to the Daytona 500 – fifth fastest in practice, a victory in the first duel, and a third-place starting position for the main event.

Catch Joey Logano next at the Auto Club Speedway for the Pala Casino 400 on February 26, 2023.