DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Ross Chastain always has watermelons around victory lane, a nod to his roots in the family fruit farming business.

He may not spend much time on the Florida farm these days, but with good reason — the eighth-generation watermelon farmer was a 10th-place finisher in the Daytona 500. Chastain was part of a bumper crop of Daytona 500 rookies that made stout runs down the stretch in a "The Great American Race" won by Denny Hamlin.