William Byron secures victory in the 2024 Daytona 500

William Byron In the Daytona 500 race in Daytona Beach, Florida, won, making it an extra special celebration for his team owner Rick Hendrick in the 40th anniversary year of Hendrick Motorsports.

William Byron During a chaotic moment after a restart on Lap 197 out of 200,William Byron managed to reach the start/finish line and took the white flag just before NASCAR called the fifth caution. This caution happened as Ross Chastain slid wildly through the grass off the bumper of Austin Cindric’s Ford.

At the time of the caution, Alex Bowman was right behind his teammate, securing a 1-2 finish for Hendrick. This victory marked the organization’s first in the “Great American Race” since Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in 2014. It also represented the first Hendrick 1-2 in the “Great American Race” since Jimmie Johnson outpaced Earnhardt in 2013.

This win was significant as it was Hendrick’s ninth victory in the Daytona 500, tying the company with Petty Enterprises for the most in the history of the prestigious NASCAR Cup Series event. The race was initially scheduled for Sunday but got postponed to Monday due to heavy rains over the weekend.

“I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500,” said the 26-year-old Byron, who picked up the 11th Cup Series victory of his career and his second at Daytona, the first coming in the 2020 summer race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

“I can’t believe it. I wish my dad was here. He’s sick, but this is for him, man. We’ve been through so much, and we sat up in the grandstands together and watched the race (when Byron was younger). This is so freaking cool.”

WATCH: Byron shares emotions following Daytona 500 win | Bowman on runner-up finish

Hendrick could barely contain his elation in Victory Lane.

“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better,” he said. “When we thought about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place.

“We win this on our 40th to the day, it’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”

Before the final restart, Chastain was racing at the front of the field on Lap 192 when a bump from Alex Bowman got Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron out of shape and knocked Byron into the right rear of Brad Keselowski’s Ford.

Keselowski turned up the track into the Ford of Joey Logano, who had led a race-high 45 laps to that point. Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney’s Ford was among the 23 cars involved in the accident that left a string of mangled vehicles strewn along the backstretch.

The wreck knocked Blaney, Keselowski and Logano out of the race, along with Tyler Reddick, defending race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suárez and Todd Gilliland. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15 minutes 27 seconds for track cleanup.

“Speedway racing again,” Logano said ruefully. “It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting, with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me but just couldn’t make it work.”

“Obviously, hate what happened on that backstretch,” William Byron said of the accident. “I just got pushed and got sideways. But so proud of this team, whole Axalta team, 40th anniversary to the day, on Monday.

“Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, and we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start, obviously.”

How much William Byron has yet to prove is debatable. He won a series-best six races last year, qualified for the Championship 4 and finished third in the final standings.

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The race was not quite five laps old when an eight-car accident off Turn 4 started the inevitable attrition. Contact from Keselowski’s Ford in a tightly bunched line of the outside knocked John Hunter Nemechek’s Toyota into the center lane and into the side of Harrison Burton’s Ford.

Burton slid toward the infield, collecting the Chevrolet of Sunoco rookie Carson Hocevar. Burton’s No. 21 Mustang shot up the track and slammed into the Ford of Kaz Grala and the Chevrolet of Austin Dillon. Behind Dillon, Hocevar careened into the path of seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who couldn’t avoid the collision.

The wreck eliminated the cars of Burton, Hocevar and Grala. Dillon took his No. 3 Chevy to the garage for extensive repairs, and Johnson lost two laps on pit road as his Legacy Motor Club crew worked frantically to repair his Camry.

“I don’t remember exactly who it was on my outside,” Burton said after a trip to the infield care center. “It just looked like they either got a bad push or got loose and just hit me in the right side and sent me across.

“The grass was so wet that once I got in the grass, I thought I’d be OK, but the car just kept going and going… so really sad that our day is over as quick as it was. We had a really fast Ford. It’s just a bummer. There’s nothing we can do but just move on and try to win next week.”

It took 187 more laps of racing before the colossal wreck that dwarfed the earlier incident thinned the field and set up the fight to the finish among the cars that survived.

In a race that featured 41 lead changes among 20 drivers, Christopher Bell ran third, followed by Corey LaJoie, Bubba Wallace and AJ Allmendinger. Chastain, who didn’t have quite enough room when he dived to the inside of Cindric on the penultimate lap, finished 21st, one spot ahead of Cindric.

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who was initially caught in the first yellow of the day on Lap 6, finished 28th. Reddick, the 2024 Bluegreen Vacations Duel 1 winner, finished 29th.

Defending champion Blaney finished 30th after getting involved in a big pileup with 23 cars.

The next race for the Cup Series is at Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 25th at 3 p.m. ET, and you can watch it on FOX, listen on PRN Radio, or tune in to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

After the Daytona race, there were inspections in the garage, and everything was fine, confirming Byron as the winner. However, Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet and Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota will be further inspected at the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

In the Daytona 500 race in Florida, Ross Chastain had an exciting run. Despite starting 21st and finishing in the same position, his attempt to make a bold move for a potential race-winning pass was one of the highlights. Chastain, driving the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, stayed competitive throughout the race.

Chastain was in contention for victory, taking the lead when a massive crash occurred with 10 laps to go. However, during the final restart with four laps remaining, Chastain’s attempt to overtake William Byron didn’t go as planned. He made contact with Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford, causing both cars to slide. Chastain initially took responsibility, but Cindric pointed to the pressure from Corey LaJoie as a contributing factor.

Despite missing out on the win, Chastain and Trackhouse Racing were proud of their effort. Chastain expressed contentment, emphasizing that they did everything right. The team, led by founder Justin Marks, appreciated Chastain’s bold approach, acknowledging that they had a shot at victory in the “Great American Race.”

“I just gave him a hug and told him I’m proud of him and said that you know, we’re gonna be doing a lot of these Daytona 500s together,” Marks said after the two met in the No. 1 team’s hauler. “We’re going to have a lot of opportunities to win this race. I think everybody at Trackhouse, we do a pretty good job of managing our expectations and knowing that these races always come down to a game of millimeters at the end, and you have to shoot your shot. You have to go for it. I’m glad that he did. He’s in really good spirits. Probably already thinking about Atlanta.”

The all-time list of NASCAR Cup Series winners starts with Richard Petty (200 wins) and includes more than 60 drivers who won just a single time at NASCAR’s top level.

Below is the list of all-time winners, in order, in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Last update: After Race 1 of the 2024 season (Daytona International Speedway)

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