NASCAR has come out and explained the reasoning for the finish of the 2024 Daytona 500.
Videos by FanBuzz
There were two reasons that left fans confused on how the finish was called.
First, the incident that brought out the final caution to end the race was caused by contact between Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric. This sent both cars sliding through the infield grass. The contact occurred before leader William Byron took the white flag. This led many to believe NASCAR was slow to react to throwing the caution which could have been called before Byron took the white flag. Had the caution been thrown before Byron crossed the finish line, the field would have lined up for an Overtime restart.
Senior Vice President of competition of NASCAR, Elton Sawyer, responded to the reasoning for throwing the caution flag when they did.
"Obviously we would've loved to have left it green and let it finish naturally," Sawyer said. "But once the 2 car spun and started back up the racetrack it was gonna be into traffic and oncoming traffic, there was no choice but to throw the caution at that time."
The other side of things was whether Byron was the leader at the moment of caution. Video showed a possible angle where Alex Bowman's car was ahead of Byron's car when the caution lights are first sighted.
After determining Byron the winner, NASCAR released the photo they used to determine the winner of the Daytona 500 on social media. The photo was when NASCAR determined they threw the caution.
After taking the white flag, @WilliamByron was the leader at the time of the final caution.
This photo was used to determine the finishing order and Byron's victory in the #DAYTONA500. pic.twitter.com/b0d0UfRaLN
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024
The photo does have validity as you can see the yellow light on by the flag stand. That is the first light that lights up when the caution is thrown.
Even Bowman didn't contest the finish because at the moment the caution light came on he didn't think he had passed his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.
A caution to end the Daytona 500 is not ideal, but NASCAR handled it the only it could under the rulebook, and by definition of all the rules, William Byron was the winner of the race.
