The Iditarod encouraged fans not to travel to Nome for the finish as the city closed public buildings to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Events like the musher’s banquet were postponed.

But fans didn't employ social distancing as they poured out of bars and hotels to cheer Waerner as he drove the team off the Bering Sea ice and down Nome's Front Street to the finish line just after 12:30 a.m.

He will earn a minimum of $50,000 and a new pickup truck for winning the race. The actual cash amount will depend on how many mushers finish the race, a factor in how the prize money is divvied out.

Waerner immediately thanked the 10 dogs in harness, petting and rubbing each dog, ending his with lead dogs K2 and Bark before handing out treats.

He called K2 “an amazing dog."

"He has this inside engine that never stops,” Waerner said.

Bark is the tough one, the winning musher said.

“He's the one just charging through everything. It doesn't matter what comes, he will just go through it, storms or whatever," Waerner said. So the two together are an amazing team.”

Waerner, who began mushing in 1984, won the Iditarod in only his second attempt.