Watch: Daytona 500 Crashes As Denny Hamlin Dedicates Win To JD Gibbs

Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 for the second time in four years beating reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. He led a clean sweep of the podium for the Joe Gibbs Racing on an emotional day for the entire team.

It was a relatively clean race up until the final 10 laps when it came alive with three crashes of which the first one involved more than half the cars in the field. Hamlin was leading when behind him Paul Menard and Matt DiBenedetto came together and caused a massive pile up that involved Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Daniel Suarez, David Ragan, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney among others.

The crash was so massive that NASCAR was forced to throw the red flag and stop the race in order to assess the situation, clear the track of the carnage and decide the running order. It took almost 30 minutes for the race to get underway again, but it did not last long.

With the Daytona 500 nearing five laps to go Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose and caused yet another collision as he collected six cars which included Chase Elliot, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski. And that was not the end of the crashes as there was another incident just as the cars were preparing for the final laps.

Hamlin and Busch were racing side-by-side with the drivers awaiting the white flag, but just then Clint Bowyer, who was in sixth place made an aggressive move and caused another wreck. William Byron and Elliot were the main beneficiaries of his slightly miscalculated move and this incident not only brought out another red flag, but also sent the race into overtime.

Hamlin took the lead when the race restarted and would continue to hold on to the lead during overtime and finish the race ahead of Busch and Eric Jones, who finished in third place. And immediately after the race the winner dedicated it to JD Gibbs, team owner Joe Gibbs’ eldest son, who died last month after battling a degenerative neurological disease.

It was JD Gibbs that discovered Hamlin during a test session and the two-time Daytona 500 winner was hired to drive the No.11 car of Joe Gibbs Racing – the same number his son wore during his football days. JD Gibbs’ name was also on the Toyota that took the checkered flag on Sunday.

"The whole family, they did so much for me over the course of my career, and this one is for J.D,'' Hamlin said, as quoted on ESPN. "We are desperately going to miss him the rest of our lives. His legacy still lives on through Joe Gibbs Racing and proud to do this for them.''

"He meant a lot to me and it's hard for me not getting choked up because I've been choked up about 100 times about it,'' the Daytona 500 winner added. "Just to have Melissa [Gibbs] and all the kids here, it's just crazy,'' he added.