DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Another stage of racing is complete at Daytona International Speedway and Jimmie Johnson leads his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in third.
Johnson quickly worked his way through the field using the middle line after finishing Stage 1 in 17th. He moved inside the top five with 12 laps to go in the stage and held the position until the green-checkered flag waved. The No. 48 Patriotic Lowe's Chevrolet SS team earned eight bonus points.
Teammate Kasey Kahne restarted the stage in fourth and maintained his top-five position for the majority of the stage. However, on the last lap of the stage, he was shuffled back to seventh and earned four bonus points as a result.
Chase Elliott took the green-checkered flag 17th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. made contact with the wall with 29 laps remaining in the stage and fell two laps down to the leader. However, after an incident at Lap 70 that led to the race’s fifth caution, Earnhardt was awarded one of his two laps back. He was scored 31st at the end of Stage 1.
Matt Kenseth won the stage.
With the first two stages complete, a final 80-lap segment remains before the checkered flag waves at Daytona.