It was 20-years ago when Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 in the Richard Childress No. 3 Chevy Monte Carlo for his first, and only ever, Daytona 500 win. Over the weekend, driver Austin Dillan brought the Richard Childress No. 3 car back in the Daytona 500 winner’s circle with the Chevy Camaro ZL1. This also means that with 24 wins under its belt, Chevrolet now has more Daytona 500 wins than any other auto manufacturer.
This is the inaugural season for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Austin Dillion and the No. 3 Chevy Camaro ZL1 took the leads in the final lap, winning The Great American Race at the Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. Darrell Wallace Jr. was the runner-up, making it a 1-2 finish for Chevy as Wallace finished the race in his No. 43 Chevy Camaro ZL1, this was the 5th career start for the driver.
The top ten was filled with the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, other champs included drivers Chris Buescher, No. 37 Kleenex Camaro ZL1 (fifth); Ryan Newman, No. 31 Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Camaro ZL1, (eighth); and AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1 (10th). Team Chevy is already cleaning up pretty well right out of the gate in the 2018 season.
Pole-sitter, and another Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver, Alex Bowman was first in the single-car qualifying on Saturday, was one of six drivers on Team Chevy to find themselves in a 12-car incident during lap 198 during the race. This incident took the race into overtime, and caused Bowen to lose his 13-lap lead, to finish 17th http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.comoverall. Other key Team Chevy drivers were involved in incidents earlier in the race, with a multi-car wreck taking out Chase Elliot in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will head to the Atlanta Motor Speedway next for the Fold of Honor QuickTrip 500.
Shawn Henry is a Texas native who has spent the majority of his career building and selling F-Bodies and Corvettes. Now studying journalism, he is taking a new direction with his love of GM Performance vehicles.
