William Byron kicked off his 2024 NASCAR Cup Series in style by winning the 2024 Daytona 500.
It is his 11th Cup win and Hendrick Motorsports’ ninth in the Daytona 500, its first since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in 2014.
The victory came after Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric connected coming to the white flag, bringing out a caution. Alex Bowman had a run past Byron moments before the yellow flew but just missed edging him out due to the timing of the yellow flag, per NASCAR timing and scoring.
“We obviously laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race and we would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves,” said Byron after the race. “I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500 I can’t believe it.”
Behind the two Hendrick cars, Christopher Bell managed to run strong after winning the second Bluegreens Vacations Duel race, finishing third.
A great run for Corey LaJoie saw him finish fourth, while Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five despite late-race fuel issues.
AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10.
Stage one was won by Chase Elliott over Kyle Larson and Chastain, the Chevrolet presence foreshadowing Hendrick’s success. The stage win came after Elliott managed to take the lead during green flag pitstops and the Chevrolets implemented some aggressive blocking to ensure control over the lead.
Stage two saw reigning Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney take the victory after making a move past teammate Austin Cindric, not unlike how Cindric took the checkered at the end of the 2022 running of the 500. The Fords were very fast during stage 2, with Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, and Ryan Preece maintaining control of the race alongside Blaney and Justin Haley, who showed a considerable amount of speed from the revamped Rick Ware Racing Cup program.
The race was filled with intense two- and three-wide racing throughout, with only two cautions to speak of apart from stages and the final caution. Both came from crashes within 10 laps of the start and finish.
The first crash happened on Lap 6 as a result of Keselowski tapping John Hunter Nemechek at just the wrong angle, sending him into Harrison Burton. The wreck claimed Carson Hocevar, Burton, and Kaz Grala. Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon both sustained damage that put them multiple laps down and out of contention for…
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