Kurt Busch's car owner Tony Stewart says Busch drove the most patient he's ever seen him race and that was the key to him winning the Daytona 500. (1:36)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- As Kurt Busch celebrated his Daytona 500 victory, the future generation of NASCAR drivers had one of those what-if moments that they now hope will make a future celebration sweeter.

Chase Elliott was leading with three laps remaining Sunday when he ran out of gas. Kyle Larson took the white flag in the lead and ran out of gas. Ryan Blaney wasn't close enough to Busch when Larson's car stumbled to make a move for the win -- because, he too, felt his car stumbling to find fuel on its way to the finish. Austin Dillon, who was running in the top five, ran out of gas, too.

They will hope for better days.

"A bummer," said 24-year-old Larson, who had led six times for 16 laps. "But, honestly, it's cool to have a shot to win the biggest race of our season. ... We just didn't have enough fuel at the end.

"I knew we'd be close. I knew we were right on our window. So when we got single-file on top, I was running around three-quarter to half-throttle as much as I could save and just ran up short."

Elliott had reason to feel even more disappointed than Larson. Elliott had led from Lap 175 through 197 before running out of gas.

"It was a disappointing finish to a good day," said 21-year-old Elliott, who sat on the pole and led 39 laps. "[It's] just one of those things you can't do anything about."

Blaney had the best finish, second, of the young drivers but just couldn't make a move thanks to no real second lane and the fuel issues.

"I started kind of running out the gas there into [Turn] 3," Blaney said. "We started sputtering pretty bad. Luckily we made it back to the line.

"[It was] a good showing for us. It was a good way to start off the year. Stinks to be so close. But I think that's good momentum for our team, to be good at the beginning of the day, get some damage and be able to rally for a good finish."

Ryan Blaney, front, didn't have a run at the win in Sunday's Daytona 500 but still finished second. Chase Elliott, back, was leading when he ran out of fuel. Jerry Markland/Getty Images

Larson, Blaney and Elliott shared the stage Wednesday at Daytona 500 media day to try to promote NASCAR's youth movement. Blaney and Elliott seek their first Cup wins. Larson has one from last year, as he triumphed at Michigan.

With Elliott leading late, Blaney thought Elliott was in a good position if he hadn't run out of gas.

"There's really no 'what-ifs' -- If wishes were fishes, the world would be an ocean," Blaney said. "You kind of play with the cards you're dealt.

"You never know if they would have made a run or not. Unfortunately, he ran out. I was pulling for them there, but you never know."

While it could be hard for a young driver to lose a race that way, Elliott crew chief Alan Gustafson isn't worried about his young driver. He said he felt pretty good that Elliott would have won the Daytona 500 if he hadn't run out of the gas.

"There's nothing he can do," Gustafson said. "I'd rather lose like that than I would sitting in the garage or running 12th or 13th or 10th or lucking into a fifth. I don't think that's a bad thing.

"You go to the racetrack and you fight your guts out and you win a pole and win a duel and leading the Daytona 500 with [about] two laps to go, I don't know that you should be sad about that."

Xfinity Series: A different win

Ryan Reed won for the second time in three years at Daytona, but he will be the first to admit that his win Saturday was much different from his victory in 2015.

Ryan Reed is prouder of this Daytona win than the one he got in 2015. Sean Gardner/Getty Images

"The first race that I won, I felt like I just stayed up front, didn't make any mistakes and just put myself in the right position at the end," the Roush Fenway Racing driver said. "[This year,] there was a lot more I had to make it happen.

"It wasn't just, 'Oh, I've got a run on the leader at the last lap at the right time.' I had to position myself there and then I had to defend a lot of runs from a lot of really good guys. I don't think that I was in a place two years ago to do it."

Reed had the advantage of experience from winning in 2015 (the race where Kyle Busch was injured) as well as handling the pressure of being in the Xfinity playoffs last year.

But he wouldn't pinpoint those two experiences as what helped him Saturday.

"Jack [Roush] let me run that Cup race last year at Talladega," Reed said. "I learned a ton. So those guys, they step it up even another notch, and so I just tried to keep my nose clean and not make anyone too mad out there and learn from them, and I think that helped me a lot."

Camping World Truck Series: No guarantees

GMS Racing rookie Kaz Grala won the season-opening truck race. But with only eight spots available in the truck playoffs, he won't feel confident of his spot in the postseason unless he wins again or feels more secure in the standings.

Kaz Grala, 18, has a leg up on making the Camping World Truck Series playoffs, but his lack of experience will still have him paying attention to the standings. Jerry Markland/Getty Images

"I don't want to get ahead of myself there, but I definitely feel pretty good about it," Grala said. "I think that gives us a really good chance of getting in there, and that's what it's all about in this sport. ... I've never been on a mile‑and‑a‑half before, so next weekend [at Atlanta] is going to be my first time doing that.

"I'll get plenty of those under my belt, hopefully become a little bit stronger at them, and then going into the playoffs, there's quite a few of those. Really I'm just going to be working on myself, try to get more wins, try to get more playoff points. ... Hopefully, come playoff time, I will have learned enough to be competitive against some of the big dogs in this series."

He has a crew chief who certainly has experience. Jerry Baxter, released as crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports' Christopher Bell after last season, quickly landed at GMS as the crew chief for Grala.

"There's been a lot of learning going on since Dec. 1 -- a different manufacturer with Chevrolet, and they do things a lot different than what I'm accustomed to," Baxter said. "But it's re-energized me."