John King becomes the newest surprise winner in NASCAR

John King celebrates in victory lane after winning in Daytona.
Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday, Matt Crafton; those are all drivers whose names we are familiar with and who were competing to win the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona. Tonight’s series debut added new faces into the mix; Paulie Harraka, Max Gresham and John King to name a few.

Turner Motorsports was strong

Miguel Paludo, Nelson Piquet Jr. and James Buescher
Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

Turner Motorsports swept the 1, 2, and 3^rd starting positions and were the trucks to beat. Miguel Paludo led ­­­56 laps, compared to just leading 19 laps in his career prior to tonight. Starting up front with Paludo were teammates Nelson Piquet Jr. and James Buescher.

Paludo led the first 20 laps before being passed for a single lap and regaining the lead once again. For another 22 laps, Paludo led in what appeared to be his race to loose. 

After leading half of the race, Paludo crashed as teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. got a bit sideways. No contact was made as Piquet was in front of Paludo, Buescher behind, but Paludo swerved out of line and went veering into the inside retaining wall. Thankfully, NASCAR has SAFER barriers in place and Paludo was able to walk away from a hit that sent his truck into the air. 

In case you missed it: 

Restrictor plate carnage

Restrictor plate racing is notorious for creating carnage with sheet metal and sparks flying in the air as fast as the engines roar. Hopes and dreams are dashed in the blink of an eye.

Only 18 trucks made it across the finish line, that is half the field, the other 18 trucks were collected in the carnage of the evening.

NASCAR went into its version of overtime having to determine a winner via a green-white-checker finish. Via the NASCAR rules, there may be three attempts at a green flag finish and if a caution comes out on the final attempt, a winner is declared. Tonight, all three attempts were used and a winner was declared after a wreck on the last lap.

Another Daytona Cinderella story

Last year Trevor Bayne was the talk of Daytona, this year the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner will be the talk of the town. 

Red Horse Racing's newest driver, John King, led only six laps before winning tonight's race. As a caution came out on the white flag lap, King was declared the winner. 

King said "man I am a rookie, I am not supposed to be here!" Out running his teammate Timothy Peters, King earned his spot in victory lane.

Race results:

1. John King
2. Timothy Peters
3. Justin Lofton
4. Travis Kvapil
5. Jason White
6. Todd Bodine
7. Chris Fontaine
8. Ward Burton
9. Ty Dillon
10. Clay Greenfield
11. Parker Kligerman
12. Grant Enfinger
13. Dusty Davis
14. Ron Hornaday Jr. 
15. Ryan Sieg
16. Chris Cockrum
17. James Buescher
18. Joey Coulter
19. Paulie Harraka
20. Brendan Gaughan
21. David Starr
22. Nelson Piquet Jr.
23. Matt Crafton
24. Johnny Sauter
25. Rick Crawford
26. Max Gresham
27. Brad Keselowski
28. Ross Chastain
29. Bryan Silas
30. Miguel Paludo
31. TJ Duke
32. Cale Gale
33. Mike Skinner
34. JR Fitzpatrick
35. Dakoda Armstrong
36. Jason Leffler