Byron Wins Second Straight Daytona 500 After Crash-Filled Finish

DAYTONA BEACH — William Byron earned his second consecutive Daytona 500 victory on Sunday, surviving a chaotic 67th running of the race defined by wreck-filled final laps that sent the race into overtime and early weather delays at Daytona International Speedway.

Byron, 27, became the first driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020. No driver has ever won three in a row.

“We had an awesome car today,” Byron said. “We just didn’t have the track position to show it. Last year was kind of the opposite. We were always up front and this year just wasn’t that way.

“Obviously it worked out in a fortunate way for us, but it’s not all luck to win twice in a row. It’s a lot of teamwork.”

The No. 24 driver led only five times for 10 laps throughout the race.

In the chaos of the final laps, Byron found himself suddenly in front after Hamlin, who was chasing his fourth Daytona victory, was sent spinning moments after passing Austin Cindric. The crash took out multiple cars at the front of the pack, clearing the way for Byron, who emerged from the outside wall.

Tyler Reddick finished second while two-time Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson took home third. Pole winner Chase Briscoe came home fourth followed by John Hunter Nemechek.

Reddick, who entered the final lap in 13th place, finished just .113 seconds behind Byron. His best previous finish in the Daytona 500 was 27th (2019, ’21).

“When they started to spin on the dogleg, I kind of jumped out of line thinking that was going to be it, and we just kept going,” Reddick said. “All in all, I never really finished a race here unless it was 40 laps down, so I’ll take second.”

This is Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th Daytona 500 win, breaking the record for the most wins at the track by any team. The Hendrick team previously was tied with Petty Enterprises.

Byron won Daytona on a Sunday for the first time, after claiming victory in last year’s postponed race on a Monday due to inclement weather. This year’s race was also impacted by rainy conditions.

On Friday, NASCAR announced that the race would start an hour earlier at 1:30 p.m. The green flag dropped at 2:06 p.m., but light showers started to fall after just nine laps and the yellow flag was brought out. At Lap 11, the red flag was shown and the drivers were brought down pit road where they parked and exited their vehicles.

More than three hours later, drivers were ordered to return to their cars. Again, the field ran only nine laps under caution before heading back to pit road. It wasn’t until about 6:22 p.m. when the race resumed without any more weather delays.

The race’s return to green-flag conditions set the stage for a tense, action-packed finish under the lights, with cars running tightly together each lap. There were 56 lead changes in all with 15 different drivers leading a lap.

The last-lap melee was preceded by another multi-car crash that occurred with less than five laps to go. Christopher Bell got turned by Cole Custer. Bell’s No. 20 car was beside his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, fighting for the lead. Bell then collided with Ryan Preece, whose car was launched into the air and flipped over before backing into the wall. That crash sent the race into overtime.

Team Penske drivers dominated the majority of the race, leading 125 of the 201 laps. Joey Logano led 43 of the first 70 laps but was forced to fall back through the field after debris was caught in his motor. Logano fought his way back to fifth place with only 15 laps left to go in the race.

With laps running out, Logano surged his car to the left of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. moving to wedge his No. 22 Ford between Stenhouse and Ryan Blaney, but Stenhouse responded with an immediate block to protect his position. Logano didn’t back down and the two cars collided, collecting Chase Elliot, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland, totaling the crash to eight cars. There were eight cautions in the race for 47 laps.

“I feel like what created the ending the way it was was a lot of lane swapping,” Byron said. “And anytime you had that amount of lane swapping, you had a lot of runs come from behind. I feel like that’s kind of what you saw what happened at the end.”

Amid the chaos of the late-race wrecks, another storyline unfolded on the track.

Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves made his stock-car racing debut at Daytona International Speedway. Castroneves qualified for the Daytona 500 under NASCAR’s new Open Exemption Provisional rule which allows a “world-class driver” to receive a spot on the starting grid for the Great American Race.

Castroneves started the race last and was involved in a seven-car crash on Lap 72. He finished in 39th.