led the first 55 laps, and on lap 37, rookie Joey Coulter cut down a tire and crashed into the turn 2 wall, bringing out the first caution of the race. On the second caution for Donnie Neuenberger's bed cover falling off the truck in turn 4, Timothy Peters took the lead after taking only fuel on lap 56, followed by Ricky Carmichael and Buescher. On lap 66, Justin Marks' hood loosened and covered the windshield, causing him to crash into turn 1. The green flag flew from lap 70 to 75, when Travis Kvapil's tire blew and hit five trucks, while Neuenberger, who was running in the back, failed to slow down in time and collided with other trucks; altogether, 14 trucks were involved. On lap 85, the caution was flown after Lofton crashed into David Starr. The green flag flew from lap 89 to 97, when Aric Almirola collided with Brad Sweet, creating a nine-truck crash also involving Austin Dillon, Papis, Kyle Busch, Parker Kligerman, Bodine, Chris Fontaine and Buscher. As a result, officials stopped the race for ten minutes to clean up, and the 100-lap race was extended to initiate a green-white-checker finish. Sometime during the lap under caution before the final restart, the right half of Waltrip's rear spoiler collapsed and fell flat, greatly reducing the aerodynamic drag on his truck that the spoiler is designed to do at Daytona, to limit top speed and encourage drafting. This suddenly gave his truck a prohibitive advantage. On the final lap, Waltrip pushed Elliott Sadler far ahead of the pack, and with his illegally advantaged truck, easily passed him on his outside in the final yards to claim his first Truck Series win, becoming the 22nd driver to win in all three of NASCAR's top series. The win was on the ten-year anniversary of Waltrip's first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the 2001 Daytona 500, which was also the site of Waltrip's team owner Dale Earnhardt's death. Clay Rogers, Miguel Paludo and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five, followed by Cobb, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Carmichael, Buescher and Crafton.
Post-race
In victory lane, Waltrip stated: Afterwards, NASCAR confiscated Waltrip's rear spoiler, half of it having fallen; NASCAR reported it to be a failure, but continued to examine it. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp stated, "It appeared to be a failed part. The spoiler broke on the green-white-checkered finish. Our typical procedure is, instead of having an immediate reaction, we'll take a look and, if necessary, we'll have whatever reaction is appropriate the first of the week." Eventually, the team was revealed to have "violated Sections 12–1, 12-4-J, and 20B-3.1.2E ". Vision Aviation Racing owner Billy Ballew was penalized 25 owner points, while crew chief Doug Howe was fined $25,000, and was placed on probation for the remainder of the year. As Waltrip was not competing for Truck Series points, he was not penalized any drivers points.
