After quite a bizarre turn of events, William Byron was able to sneak through the carnage on the final lap to bring his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet across the start-finish line in the lead, capturing his second consecutive victory in the DAYTONA 500.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the white flag in ninth place, and over the course of the event’s final 2.5 miles of action, managed to turn himself into the youngest multi-time champion of ‘The Great American Race’ at just 27 years old.
Over the course of the final lap, the key move came on the backstretch, when Byron, followed by Tyler Reddick, jumped up to the third lane to generate momentum. At the same time, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, and Cole Custer all came together, wiping out the entire front of the field, and allowing the No. 24 to sneak by on the outside.
While the timing of that move to the third lane, which ended up winning him the race, could be considered lucky by some, the Charlotte, North Carolina native says he was listening to his instincts during that final circuit around one of the most famous circuits in America.
“Obviously some good fortune but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there,” Byron told FOX Sports. “I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom, and I was honestly going to go to the third lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back.”
It’s Byron’s second victory in the DAYTONA 500, the first of which came last season in a caution-plagued battle with teammate Alex Bowman. It’s also the 14th NASCAR Cup Series victory for the driver of the No. 24, tying him for 57th on the all-time list.
“It’s obviously really special,” Byron said. “It’s an amazing race, and obviously a lot of crazy racing out there tonight and just a lot of pushing and shoving. But, just really proud of our team, I can’t stress that enough.”
Tyler Reddick was just behind William Byron on the outside lane during the final lap, and despite some contact in the wreck from Denny Hamlin, managed to finish in the runner-up position.
The remainder of the running order was primarily dictated on who managed to get through the big accident on the final lap, with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson sneaking through for third – his best finish since 2020.
Chase Briscoe managed to collect a fourth-place result in his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series event for Joe Gibbs Racing, while John Hunter Nemechek completed the top five, the first-ever double top-five result for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.
Alex Bowman came home in sixth place after being involved in an earlier wreck, as did Ryan Blaney, who managed to bring his wounded No. 12 Team Penske Ford home in seventh. Austin Cindric managed to limp his Team Penske entry home for eighth.
In ninth place was Justin Allgaier, piloting the No. 40 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the organization’s first-ever start in the NASCAR Cup Series. Rounding out the top-10 was Chris Buescher for RFK Racing.
The race’s checkered flag was displayed just after 9:30 PM ET, seven and a half hours after it was scheduled to begin. However, after just nine green-flag laps, precipitation hit the racetrack and caused a three-plus hour delay.
After the event got back going, around 6:00 PM ET, the racing was action packed.
On Lap 70, Helio Castroneves, who had a difficult Speedweeks with multiple accidents across the NASCAR Cup Series and ARCA Menards Series, had his week ended early with a multi-car incident triggered by Joey Logano having a mechanical issue on the restart.
Logano would also play a role in the second of four major accidents on the evening, which collected several heavy hitters including Ryan Blaney.
Ryan Preece continued his disdain for superspeedway racing with another wild crash at Daytona International Speedway, with the No. 60 Ford Mustang going upside down and tumbling down towards Turn 3.
The final incident of the evening was the one on the last lap which included at least 10 cars, the third incident to feature a double-digit number of cars taking damage.
Up next for the NASCAR Cup Series is another superspeedway event but in tighter confines, competing at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, February 23. Coverage will be on FOX.
