William Byron had just crossed the finish line, narrowly leading on the last lap of the Daytona 500, when a caution ended NASCAR’s biggest race to give Byron the win over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman.
The victory came on the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports making its first Cup Series start and 10 years since Hendrick last won the Daytona 500.
Byron was racing Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric when contact between Chastain and Cindric sent them crashing as the field sped toward the checkered flag. NASCAR officials called for the yellow flag just after Byron had taken the white flag, signaling the race would end either under green or caution. Bowman was seemingly poised to pass his Hendrick teammate as he appeared to have momentum, but Byron fortuitously had the position and the win was his.
OFFICIAL: @WilliamByron was the leader at the time of caution.
He wins the 66th running of the #DAYTONA500! pic.twitter.com/PMIyF0TdVZ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024
Hendrick’s Chase Elliott won the first stage, while Penske’s Ryan Blaney won Stage 2.
Elliott, Bowman and Kyle Larson teamed up at the end of Stage 1 to push Elliott past Kyle Busch for the stage win, earning Elliott 10 points and one playoff point. Busch was leading and trying to hold off Byron coming to the last lap of the stage when the Hendrick trio took advantage and passed Busch on the outside.
Blaney — the defending Cup Series champion — won the second stage by passing teammate Cindric in Turns 3 and 4 coming to the finish. Cindric was leading with Blaney behind him when Cindric appeared to drift up the track, opening the door ever so slightly for Blaney, who then nosed under Cindric to gain the position.
In a race where big wrecks are commonplace, it didn’t take long before trouble arose. The first caution came on Lap 6 for a crash that ended the race for three drivers — Harrison Burton, Carson Hocevar and Kaz Grala — while damaging several other cars.
After that caution, the race ran clean until a second multi-car accident erupted with nine laps remaining. This “Big One” began at the front of the field as Byron, Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and others were fighting for the lead. It came after contact between Keselowski and Byron turned Keselowski in front of the pack entering Turn 3.
A total of 18 cars sustained damage of some kind, with Logano and Keselowski among those unable to continue racing. Other heavy hitters were also taken out, but Byron remained in contention, paving the way for his eventual win.
What to make of the finish
After a largely thrilling Daytona 500, this finish was quite anticlimactic. Chastain and Cindric collided right when Byron was about to take the white flag, and he crossed the line before NASCAR threw the caution, thus making it an official race. After officials determined Byron was ahead of Bowman when the caution came out, that made Byron a Daytona 500 winner. It may not have been a satisfying ending, but the bulk of the race seemed exciting enough to make up for it. — Jeff Gluck, motorsports staff writer
Why this is big for William Byron, HMS
Exactly 40 years ago to the day, Hendrick Motorsports made its first NASCAR Cup Series start. More than 300 victories later, Hendrick is NASCAR’s all-time winningest team — with records that will never be touched — and now has a record-tying ninth Daytona 500.
Meanwhile, Byron is quickly becoming one of NASCAR’s top stars. He is a Daytona 500 champion for the first time and is coming off of his first appearance in NASCAR’s championship race — all at age 26. We already predicted he would be this season’s top driver; that’s certainly off to a good start. — Gluck
Who was the best underdog story of the race?
Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports finished fourth, which tied LaJoie’s best career finish (Talladega and Atlanta, which are also superspeedway-style drafting tracks).
It gives the rising Spire team renewed hope it can have the kind of season that puts the No. 7 car in playoff contention. Though it will be a long road, their year is certainly off to a good start.
Meanwhile, in other underdog-type stories: AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing also scored a sixth-place finish, John Hunter Nemechek was seventh and Noah Gragson was ninth. — Gluck
Top-10 race results
Here’s the unofficial top-10 finishing order:
- William Byron
- Alex Bowman
- Christopher Bell
- Corey LaJoie
- Bubba Wallace
- AJ Allmendinger
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Eric Jones
- Noah Gragson
- Chase Briscoe
Required reading
(Photo: Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
