DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron missed the ferocious wreckage in the Daytona 500 and raced for the checkered flag, leaving behind repeated victory.
Still, sitting in ninth place with one lap left on the remaining finish, against the No. 24 Chevrolet driver, there’s plenty of time to either escape the rest of the race unharmed or stop a comeback victory It could have been.
Thanks to another crash, Byron used a clean ride on the final lap to escape the chaos and competed for a second Daytona 500 victory. He dodged the wreckage of a series of races, which knocked out a series of candidates, sending the driver of Hendrick Motorsports to Victory Lane on Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway.
“Every wins twice in a row is not lucky,” Byron said.
Probably not. But Byron was certainly in the right place by racing near the outside wall in overtime to become the first consecutive winner since Denny Hamlin in 2019-20.
Byron took advantage of another big mess on the final lap. NASCAR did not pay attention and competed for the finish on the field.
“It’s obviously really special,” Byron said. “It’s a great race and obviously there’s a lot of crazy races tonight, a lot of pushes and pushes.”
Byron, 27, won to win after two weather delays took more than three hours in total, leading to President Donald Trump watching the rest of his race in Florida. Heavy armored presidential limousine known in Washington as the “beast.”
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Hendrick Motorsports won the 10th Daytona 500 and defeated a tie against Petty Enterprises for the record.
“We’re obviously lucky, it worked well for us in a positive way,” Byron said. “Crazy? Yes. I can’t believe it honestly, but we’re here.”
Byron became the youngest driver to win multiple Daytona 500s, breaking the record held by Jeff Gordon with Gordon, a four-time NASCAR champion at the Hall of Famer.
Gordon fired his thumb when he was told Byron had broken the record for the youngest two-time winner in four months.
“I hope he breaks all of them,” Gordon said. “I fully support that.”
Austin Sindrick held the lead towards the white flag when he was wiped out by a crash that pulled out many drivers, including Chase Briscoe, Hamlyn and Alex Bowman. The last eight Daytona 500s races have been overtime, setting up Byron and becoming the fifth driver.
Byron has already set his sights on the championship race at Phoenix after winning his 14th Cup career and finishing third in the rankings over the past two years.
“We’re planning on winning a lot of races this year, so we won’t stop here,” Byron said. “We will continue to move forward and try to get to Phoenix.
Without all the flips, slams and slips that inevitably send the race into overtime, it’s not Daytona.
With four laps left, Ryan Place was upside down and essentially did Willie in his No. 60 Ford. His car turned over on its roof and returned to its tires before hitting the wall outside. Preece dropped his safety net and signaled the crew that he was OK.
Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Brad Keserowski all took spoiled shots of the victory lane, with the race red flagging, another big shuffling the field and four former Cup Series Knocked out the champion.
NASCAR champions Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse began their multi-car fights as Logano moved into the middle and Stenhouse moved to block him. It stacked up the rogano and the accordion effect sent several cars, including cars belonging to former Cup champions Kyle Busch, Ryan Branny and Chase Elliott.
Bush’s car got on a tow and extended the skid to 0 to 20/20 in the “Great American Race.”
“It looks like the fastest car has quickly reached the wreck,” Bush said. “Logano was by far the fastest car today. He could do anything. Pensuke’s car was very strong. But we still had 20 laps and he went through the middle and then he went through the hole that wasn’t there. I’m trying to make it. I just created chaos.”
Tyler Reddick was second, and Daytona 500 champion Jimmy Johnson was second. Chase Briscoe came in fourth and John Hunter Nemeschek was fifth.
Xfinity Series champion Justin All-Gairer finished his ninth driving with team owner and two-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Not bad. It’s not enough to defeat Byron.
A self-taught racer who hone his skills using computer equipment, Byron was once again standing as the winner of Daytona. Gordon was a three-time Daytona 500 winner and pointed out that he still has an edge against Byron.
“Until next year,” Gordon said.
Leave a legacy
Johnson and Nemeshek gave the Legacy Motor Club two top five finishes. Hall of Fame driver and seven-time NASCAR champion, Johnson is currently the majority owner under an offseason restructuring. It was his best finish in the race since he won in 2013.
“I have feelings I didn’t expect. I’ve never been in this position as an owner. It really opened up another set of emotions,” Johnson said in a statement since his 2013 victory. He spoke after the best finish in the race. .
Early exit
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winners Helio Castroneb and 2017 NASCAR champion Martin Trueks Jr. were one of the drivers who finished the race after being collected on a wreck before the halfway point. did.
Castroneves created the Daytona 500 under new rules that allow “world-class drivers” to receive temporary locations. He landed a NASCAR ride as part of Truckhouse’s “Project 91.”
Truex, who retired from full-time racing at the end of last season, failed to score the Daytona 500 in 21 tries.
Truex finished 38th and Castroneves 39th.
