William Byron Claims Daytona 500 Victory Under Caution Rain didn’t dampen Hendrick Motorsports’ fun on Monday as William Byron took home his maiden win at NASCAR’s most renowned event and gave their team its second victory in three years. As one of several top-10 contenders throughout most of the race, William outraced Alex Bowman to cross the finish line before NASCAR called a caution flag due to Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric sliding through the infield; thus giving Hendrick Motorsports their fifth caution of the night during its 66th Great American Race race that had been postponed from Sunday evening due to rain.
At the restart with eight laps remaining, Byron found himself at the epicenter of an epic crash involving over half of the field. A push from Bowman caused Byron to spin out off Turn 4 and into Brad Keselowski’s Ford, setting off an irreparable chain reaction that eventually involved LaJoie, Hamlin, Larson, Stenhouse Jr. and more in its path.
The crash prompted one of five cautions in the final 20 laps of the race. Keselowski collided with John Hunter Nemechek’s Toyota, forcing it into Harrison Burton’s Ford, sending Keselowski spinning off track and into Harrison Burton’s Ford. As a result, several drivers became caught up in this chaos, including Chase Briscoe and Erik Jones – who both needed backup cars to continue driving – becoming involved.
Following the restart on Lap 197 of 200, Byron moved ahead of Cindric and held onto his lead until Chastain gave him too much of a push into Turn 4 that was too much for him to handle. Chastain slid up between them, forcing Byron into Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson. That contact sent both Chastain and Cindric flying through the infield before the caution flag flew at Byron crossing the start-finish line on his final lap.
Bowman took second in a Chevrolet, followed by Christopher Bell and Corey LaJoie from Joe Gibbs Racing who finished third and fourth respectively, followed by two Toyotas belonging to Kaulig Racing/23XI Motorsports teams AJ Allmendinger/Bubba Wallace for Kaulig Racing/23XI Motorsports rounding out the top five positions. Chase Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones scored top-10 finishes in Fords for Stewart-Haas Racing.
William Byron made history on Sunday when he scored his first win with Hendrick Motorsports since Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the 2014 Daytona 500 for them – this victory also marked its inaugural success for No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports car! Hendrick Motorsports celebrated their third overall win of 2014 and 302nd Cup Series victory – equalling Petty Enterprises for most wins ever in NASCAR’s premier series – as the #24 team under new crew chief Kevin Meenderings took home another victory at Daytona 500 under rookie driver William Byron as youngest-ever Daytona 500 champion – as well as Hendrick Motorsports becoming only organization to have at least one Daytona 500 win in each of the past 20 seasons!
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