Lady luck smiled on Jeff Gordon once again today as the 25-year-old from Pittsboro, Indiana became the youngest driver ever to win NASCAR's crown jewel, the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.

Gordon, the 1995 Winston Cup champion, took the checkered and yellow flags at the same time as his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Terry Labonte, the reigning Winston Cup champion, and Ricky Craven pulled alongside in formation to make it a 1-2-3 finish for the premier Winston Cup team.

The results of today's race are a tremendous turn of luck for team owner Rick Hendrick, who is battling legal problems as part of a federal investigation of his automobile dealerships and health problems stemming from leukemia.

The Hendrick trio were followed by Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin. Elliott lost his lead to Gordon on the 195th lap.

The race was forced to end under caution when 10 cars were involved in a massive pileup on the 196th lap of the 200-lap event. Oil and debris on the track forced the final four laps to be run in formation under caution. An accident seven laps earlier took out top contenders Dale Earnhardt, Ernie Irvan and defending event champion Dale Jarrett.