Jacques Villeneuve reached the checkered flag for his first Daytona 500 on Sunday, a race that concluded with a wild two-lap shootout from which NASCAR Cup rookie Austin Cindric emerged the winner.
Villeneuve, who was elated for merely qualifying for NASCAR's blue riband event, finished 22nd after having started last, the Canadian successfully steering clear of multiple incidents that happened in his path.
The 1997 F1 World Champion quickly fell a lap behind and suffered a rocky moment when he half-spun his #27 Ford Mustang while entering the pitlane for his first stop.
Shorty later, Villeneuve underwent another hair-raising moment when he nearly collected the Chevrolet of Tyler Reddick who lost control and created mayhem in the field.
From there on, the 50-year-old racer kept it clean to bring it home for himself and his Team Hezeberg outfit.
©John David Mercer-USA TODAY
"That was fun!" Villeneuve commented after his first '500'. "Got to the end, 22nd, so I'm very happy.
"We made the show, that was the key thing. We're a tiny team and a lot to learn during the race, because we had issues during the Duels, we didn't drive the following day, I didn't practice pitlane, there was a lot going on."
Commenting on the couple of close calls he had gone through during the race, Villeneuve said the dodgy moments were "what made it fun".
"At the start I really just jammed down, and pitting the first time the brake bias was completely off, so I fixed after that first spin. And then a car spun in front of me, I clipped it and almost spun.
"It was a handful and the car was really tough to drive."
When things settled down half way through the event, Villeneuve was able to draft and race more consistently.
"The car was really good in the draft. The problem was it took them a while to know they could draft with me, but at some point when we were all running together, one car decided to take my air out and we both lost the draft instead of him just staying there, happily."
There are currently no plans for Villeneuve to compete in another Cup race this season although the former Williams driver would love to have another few shots in NASCAR.
"I want to do more, the question is at some point Loris [Hezemans] will be driving the car and that's it. So it will all depend on sponsors mainly".
Reaume Brothers Racing, which prepares the cars for Villeneuve's Dutch Team Hezeberg, was impressed with the Canadian's debut on Sunday.
"Well the checkered flag has flown here at Daytona, and we couldn't be more proud of our guys," it tweeted. "@27villeneuve brought it home P22, and even more importantly, has a clean racecar."
Up ahead, after an evening that offered its usual fair share of door rubbing, the race was decided over a two-lap overtime, with Penske's Cindric leading the way from early race leader Brad Keselowski.
But Cindric's teammate Ryan Blaney, running high on the banking, moved into second at the start of the final lap. Taking advantage of his momentum, Blaney looked to make a clean pass on his teammate only for Cindric to move over and forcefully block him.
Wallace crept up from behind but Cindric's momentum carried him to the checkered flag, with the Penske driver edging Wallace by half a car's length, the pair crossing the line while all hell broke loose behind.
It was Cindric's first win at Daytona and only his eighth Cup start, with the 23-year-old competing in his first full season of NASCAR.
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