Trevor Bayne, 20, Wins Daytona 500

He's the youngest champ in race history
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 20, 2011 7:25 PM CST
Trevor Bayne, 20, Wins Daytona 500
In this pool photo taken with a fisheye lens, Jeff Gordon, front left, and Kurt Busch, front right, lead the field at the start of the Daytona 500 NASCAR auto race, Feb. 20, 2011.    (Chris Graythen)

Leading on the final lap of the Daytona 500, a pack of veterans baring down on his bumper, Trevor Bayne didn't panic. He figured it would be a cool story to tell someday, how he led a lap in NASCAR's biggest show. Somebody, maybe Tony Stewart, would pass him any moment and Bayne would dutifully push him to the win. But the pack never came. Nobody ever passed him, and with one smooth block of Carl Edwards, Bayne pulled off a stunning upset. Unlikely? Absolutely. Unworthy? He sure thought so. Unbelievable? That's Daytona for you.

"This is so crazy. I don't even know what to say," Bayne said after the win. "I almost feel undeserving because ... all these guys out here that are racing against us that have been trying to do this for so long." It took Dale Earnhardt 20 years to win the Great American Race, and on the 10th anniversary of his death in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Bayne became the youngest winner in race history. He won a day after his 20th birthday, in his first Daytona 500, in his second Sprint Cup Series start. Edwards wound up second; David Gilliland finished third and was followed by Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch. (More Trevor Bayne stories.)

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