William Byron fought his way through to win his first career Daytona 500.
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FOX: NASCAR provided a video of the finish from its X account.
William Byron wins the Daytona 500! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bmofJSB6k3
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2024
On the 40th anniversary of the start of Hendrick Motorsports, Byron brought the famed No. 24 to victory lane in the Daytona 500. The first time the No. 24 has seen victory lane in the Daytona 500 since 2005 with Jeff Gordon behind the wheel.
Byron becomes the first Hendrick Motorsports driver to win the Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt Jr. did it in the No. 88 in 2014.
The trick to winning the Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports may be not having a car qualify on the front row for "The Great American Race." Hendrick Motorsports had put a car on the front row of the Daytona 500 every year from 2015-2023.
Byron's teammate, Alex Bowman, finished second to complete a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 finish.
The race ended under caution as Ross Chastain in the No. 1 and Austin Cindric in the No. 2 made contact and both spun through the infield coming to take the white flag. This prompted a caution with Byron just ahead of Bowman.
This is Byron's second win at Daytona International Speedway, as he previously won the 2020 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.
The top 10 in the Daytona 500 were:
- No. 24 William Byron
- No. 48 Alex Bowman
- No. 20 Christopher Bell
- No. 7 Corey Lajoie
- No. 23 Bubba Wallace
- No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
- No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
- No. 43 Erik Jones
- No. 10 Noah Gragson
- No. 14 Chase Briscoe
Christopher Bell earns his second consecutive third place finish in the Daytona 500, so a Harley J. Earl trophy may be in his future.
Corey Lajoie brought his car back home with a top 5 for Spire Motorsports and he will look to get that first career win in the Cup series next week at Atlanta Motorspeedway.
Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 5 with a run that may have been lackluster for the No. 23 team. They never really had control of the race like they have had in the past. The big wreck with 8 to go helped them after they had to pit late for fuel before the finish. Wallace will be among the favorites heading to Atlanta next week.
Next week the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Atlanta Motorspeedway where William Byron will look top go back-to-back at Atlanta where he won last summer.
The Ambetter Health 400 will take place on Sunday at 3:00p.m. EST.
NEXT: The Big One Takes Out Half the Field Late in Daytona 500
