William Byron celebrates a riveting win in the 67th DAYTONA 500, going back-to-back in the season opener. (Photo: Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Sometimes, it is about being in the right place at the right time as William Byron can attest after Sunday night’s 67th DAYTONA 500.
Much like last year, the 27-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina, native bided his time. Starting fifth from the grid, the eighth year driver for Hendrick Motorsports showcased maturity and poise behind the wheel.
Leading on four occasions for eight laps prior to the frantic finish, Byron finished 10th in Stage 1 and 15th in Stage 2. For a while, it looked like “The Great American Race” would go to a Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry like Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney or Austin Cindric.
After all, Logano won Stage 1 while Blaney took Stage 2. It was in Stage 3 when all hell broke loose for the field.
Patience went by the wayside as the laps clicked by with two “Big Ones,” both on the backstretch, that depleted the competition.
On Lap 188, Logano attempted to carve his way toward the front in the middle lane when he tangled with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Blaney, Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland and Cole Custer were involved in this skirmish.
Perhaps the scariest moment of the evening came on Lap 198 when Christopher Bell got a bump draft from Custer that resulted in disaster. Bell lost control, tangling with Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace.
Preece’s car went airborne and flipped, hitting the Turn 3 wall before landing upright with heavy damage. The native of Berlin, Connecticut, escaped from his battered machine to the relief of the Daytona faithful.
Following a red flag to clean up the debris on the backstretch and Turn 3, Denny Hamlin led the Overtime restart before Cindric took the number one spot going into the final lap.
Once the field reached the backstretch, the leaders tangled with some desperate bump drafts taking Custer, Hamlin and Corey LaJoie out of contention. The seas parted for Byron and Tyler Reddick, driving past the carnage for a mano a mano duel to the stripe.
Coming to the stripe, Byron bested Reddick to the stripe by 0.113 seconds, securing the first back-to-back DAYTONA 500 wins since Hamlin (2019-’20). More importantly, Byron became the first Chevrolet racer to win consecutive DAYTONA 500s since Sterling Marlin (1994-’95).
William Byron celebrates a victory in Sunday night’s 67th DAYTONA 500. (Photo: Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)
Like last year, Byron believed in his intuition along with luck to be by his side for the finish. Byron parlayed the guts and determination seen by Jeff Gordon when he won this race on this exact date 28 years ago.
“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there,” Byron said. “I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom and I was honestly going to go third lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back.
“Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. But just really proud of this team. Worked super hard all week and had an amazing car. Just had a really hard time with the fuel saving and kind of staying towards the front. Crazy. I can’t honestly believe that. But we’re here. So proud of it.”
Although there is a saying that nobody remembers who finished second, Reddick will be remembered for driving past the final lap skirmish to tally a runner-up in “The Great American Race.”
“With that restart with 15 to go, we kind of checked up in the middle and ended up further back than we wanted to be,” Reddick said. “We didn’t really want to, we ducked out of it hoping for the caution. We got it. But we were still lined up 16th there on the green-white-checkered. 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.
“I knew that me and the [No.] 24 had a good run and they were throwing big blocks, and when they started spinning on the inside and I had a run on the 24, I thought, man, if I can just make it through on the 11 and not scrub my speed, I would have had at least an opportunity to do something.”
Struggling in his limited schedule for the past two seasons, Jimmie Johnson drove to a podium finish for his No. 84 LEGACY Motor Club Toyota Camry XSE brigade. Sporting the colors reminiscent of Shaquille O’Neal‘s Orlando Magic uniform, the seven-time Cup champion was elated about his result.
“This feels incredible. I have emotions that I didn’t expect to have. I’ve never been in this position as an owner, and it’s really opened up a different set of emotions,” Johnson said. “And the pride that I have in this result and the pride that I have in this company, now that we’re trying to achieve and the journey we’re on, I am so satisfied, so happy right now.
“Excited that we have two cars in the top 5. I hope Shaq is watching. Thank you, buddy. We got your car in the top 3. A big thanks to Carvana and their continued support, Mobil 1, AdventHealth, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree. It’s been an interesting couple of years and to have our cars come out and be this strong, this Toyota was rocketship fast. I’m just smiling inside and out.”
William Byron celebrates his victory in the 67th DAYTONA 500 with some celebratory doughnuts. (Photo: Donald Jenney | The Podium Finish)
While Johnson smiles about a solid result for his organization, Byron, his former teammate, celebrates a memorable win at Daytona. Once the afterglow of another DAYTONA 500 win fade, the focus turns toward making another Championship 4 run to be in the title fight at Phoenix in November.
“Yeah, it’s obviously really special,” Byron reflected. “It’s an amazing race, and obviously a lot of crazy racing out there tonight and just a lot of pushing and shoving.
“But just really proud of our team. I can’t stress that enough. I’m just super thankful for this group and everything that they do in the off-season to get prepared. We plan on trying to win a lot of races this year, so we’re not going to stop here. We’re going to continue to push forward and try to get to Phoenix.”
Editor’s Notes
This article will be updated with more reactions and official results upon availability.
