DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Michael McDowell worked his way past a fiery crash in turn three coming to the checkered flag to earn one of the biggest upsets in Daytona 500 history early Monday morning.

Kicking off his 14th season in the NASCAR Cup Series, McDowell was running third on the final lap after pushing Brad Keselowski to the runner-up position as the white flag waved over the field in the famed event’s 63rd edition.

He and Keselowski lagged back to get a run coming down the backstretch, which they took into turn three as Keselowski looked low on Logano to challenge for his first Daytona 500 victory.

Keselowski tagged Logano into a spin in the turn-three banking, with many cars from the lead pack piling in as McDowell escaped down low before Keselowski’s Ford was impacted by another car and a fireball erupted around the accident scene.

Meanwhile, Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon took McDowell three-wide in turn four coming back to the tri-oval, trying to steal the win for themselves before the caution lights illuminated to freeze the field.

After several tense minutes while NASCAR reviewed the scoring at the moment of caution, McDowell was declared the winner – marking his first Cup Series win in 358th start at NASCAR’s top level.

It was McDowell’s 10th Daytona 500 start and also marked the first Daytona 500 triumph for Front Row Motorsports and team owner Bob Jenkins.

“I can’t believe it. Just gotta thank God. So many years praying, hoping for an opportunity like this. So thankful and what a way to get a first (Cup Series) victory,” said a breathless McDowell.

“We won the Daytona 500! Are you kidding me?! Unbelievable!”

Elliott was scored as the runner-up, followed by Dillon, Kevin Harvick and defending Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, who led six times for a race-high 98 laps in his pursuit of a third-straight win in the event.

Elliott, the defending Cup Series champion knew he had a chance going into the final corner, but ran out of time when the yellow was called.

“I think it was close,” Elliott said. “I kind of got next to him, then I saw the lights came on and I knew it was over. Glad we could at least finish this one and have something to build off of.

“The top was just so fast. It didn’t seem to matter who went low; you just couldn’t do anything there.”

Ryan Preece earned a career-best sixth in his third Daytona 500 start, with Ross Chastain, Jamie McMurray, Corey LaJoie and Kyle Larson filling out the top 10.

This story will be updated.