Five-time Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson won the 2013 Daytona 500 this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet SS. The race was historic in many ways, including it being the the first victory for the recently introduced Chevrolet SS, which made its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut as well over the weekend according to GM.
NASCAR experts feel this is just the first of many wins to come for the new SS racecar.
"I'm very happy to win the first Gen-6 race in the Gen-6 car for Chevrolet in their SS," said Johnson according to GM who led the race for 16 laps. "Awesome day."
Johnson finished 0.129 seconds ahead of his teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who drove the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS at Daytona for his second win and first since 2006. This is the third time in four years Earnhardt Jr. has come in second place at Daytona according to GM.
Ryan Newman, who drove the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet SS and Regan Smith, who drove the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Chevy came in at fifth and seventh, respectively.
"Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, (crew chief) Chad Knaus and (team owner) Rick Hendrick on their victory in The Great American Race," said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports according to GM. "And for the Chevrolet SS to win its first points race is incredible. This is a culmination of a tremendous effort by our engineers, owners, drivers, crew chiefs and teams who worked together to develop the Chevrolet SS race car."
Pole sitter Danica Patrick finished eighth in the race, the highest finish ever for a female driver as no female has ever even finished in the top 10 before. She drove the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for team Hendrick according to ESPN.
This is the seventh Daytona 500 win for Hendrick Motors. Chevrolet has 22 overall victories at Daytona, more than any other car manufacturer by a long shot.
A Chevy driver has won seven of the last 11 Daytona 500 races according to the press release.
"So much hard work went into preparing the Chevrolet SS for competition in the Sprint Cup series," said Campbell according to GM. "We waited a long time for this race, and the performance of the No. 48 team made that wait worthwhile."
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