DAYTONA BEACH (Florida), Feb 18: Ward Burton stayed out of trouble in his Dodge to claim victory in the crash-filled Daytona 500 stock car race Sunday.

Elliott Sadler was second, 0.193 seconds behind in a Ford, with 1986 winner Geoffrey Bodine in third place 0.319 seconds off the pace in another Ford.

The red flag appeared when four-time NASCAR Winston Cup series champion Jeff Gordon, trying to hold off the Dodge of Sterling Marlin, who had led for 78 laps, spun into the grass in turn one.

Marlin handed victory to Burton when he got out of his car during the stoppage to attempt a repair that was not permitted under the red flag. He was sent to the end of the line of leaders for the final restart and that ended his challenge.

After recovering from 41st to finish second, Sadler said the weeks leading up to the race had been a struggle for his team.

Earlier Burton, who averaged 230.09 kph, was almost caught up in an accident with 51 laps to go in the 200-lap race.

The close call came when Kevin Harvick was trying to hold off Gordon by trying a blocking move, but instead went up the track triggering an 18-car accident.

To say the race was chaotic would be an understatement as the full course caution flag was waved nine times.

Behind Gordon a number of the back markers went spinning into the start-finish line infield.

Although there were no serious injuries the 1543.6 kg tube framed stock cars made the 804-km race look more like a demolition derby than a high speed dance on the 31-degree banks of the 4.022-km Daytona International Speedway.

Despite the accidents 14 of the 43 starters were still running on the leaders lap.

Undaunted, the team founded by his late father fixed his injured racer time and again and he finished 29th — 29 laps behind the leaders.

Tony Stewart, a pre-race favorite, retired on lap three with a blown engine in his Pontiac.—Reuters