Daytona 500: William Byron goes back-to-back, avoids final-lap chaos

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron was in the right place at the right time on the final lap of the 67th Daytona 500, surviving a wreck and becoming the fifth back-to-back winner of the “Great American Race” in NASCAR Cup Series history at Daytona International Speedway.

With a second consecutive Daytona 500 victory on his resume, Byron becomes the first driver to do this since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020.

Byron has quietly grown into one of the top superspeedway racers in the Cup Series over the past couple of years and he showed it once again. The 27-year-old driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet avoided incidents all weekend and found himself bringing home his second Harley J. Earl Trophy.

“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 to the third lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back. Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. Just really proud of this No. 24 Axalta Chevy team. They worked super hard all week and we had an amazing car. Just had a really hard time with the fuel-saving and kind of staying towards the front.”

23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick earned his best career finish in the Daytona 500 as his No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota finished second in his seventh start in the “Great American Race.” Last year’s Regular Season Champion previously had a best finish of 27th place twice (2019, 2021).

“Yeah, 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, but we ducked out of it hoping for the caution and 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 24 (Byron) 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 (Denny Hamlin) and not scrub my speed, I would have had at least an opportunity to do something.

 “All in all, I never really finished a race here unless it was 40 laps down, so I’ll take second. We wanted to get a good start to the year, and we scored a lot of points today. So, I’m really happy with everyone’s effort on this No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry.”

Seven-time Cup Series champion, two-time Daytona 500 winner (2006, 2013) and Legacy Motor Club team owner/driver, Jimmie Johnson, earned a hard-fought third-place finish. The 49-year-old Hall of Fame driver earned his best finish since Bristol in May 2020.

“What an experience,” Johnson said. “We tried to play it smart. Chad (Johnston, crew chief) had a great strategy for the third segment. Unfortunately, on one of the pit stops we got blocked in and lost our track position. Still had a good car and a straight car and there at the end, I was able to make my way through the crash in the back. I was in a good position and here we are. This is great.

“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, 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 five. it’s been an interesting couple of years and to have our cars come out and be this strong, this Toyota was rocket ship fast. I’m just smiling inside and out.”

Results from the 2025 Daytona 500 are listed below:

Start Of Race & Lengthy Rain Delay

NASCAR initially moved the start time of the Daytona 500 up one hour to 1:30 p.m. ET to have a chance at getting more laps in before the inevitable rain passed through Daytona Beach. However, it took just 11 laps before rain hit the track and caused a delay that lasted over three hours.

When the cars got back on track around 5:30 p.m. ET, the drivers took nine caution laps before having to come down pit road again for nearly an hour before the race started back up again. The race went green around 6:25 p.m. ET with no more bad weather the rest of the way.

Big Ones & Ryan Preece Flip

This race had numerous incidents coming down to the very end. The most notable incident happened with five laps to go involving RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece.

The driver of the No. 60 BuildSubmarines.com Ford was clipped by Christopher Bell, causing the front end of Preece’s car to fly into the air and flip over.

Preece ultimately landed on all four wheels and got out of the car under his own power. However, due to Preece being involved in another violent crash at Daytona in the last three years, the 34-year-old driver spoke his mind regarding concerns about the safety of the Next Gen car.

Preece also mentioned on FOX that all he could think about was his daughter and he was glad to walk away from the incident.

Other Race Facts

According to Trey Ryan from NASCAR Insights, 41 of the 45 cars entered in the 67th Daytona 500 were involved in at least one incident. Race winner William Byron, 10th-place finisher Chris Buescher, 30th-place finisher Carson Hocevar and BJ McLeod, who failed to make the race, were the only four drivers not involved in an incident.

Four of the top five finishers in the Daytona 500 were Toyota drivers. Tyler Reddick finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson (third), Chase Briscoe (fourth) and John Hunter Nemechek (fifth).

Team Penske had one of the most dominant showings of all the teams until the incidents toward the end of the race. Joey Logano won Stage 1 and led 43 laps. Ryan Blaney won Stage 2, leading 23 laps while Austin Cindric led a race-high 59 laps.

For the first time as team owners, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller fielded an entry in the Cup Series. JR Motorsports entered the No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet for 2024 Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier. The team qualified for the “Great American Race” in the first Duel race. After starting 19th, Allgaier finished ninth.

“I think we checked all the boxes,” Allgaier said. “Really proud of JR Motorsports and everybody on this team. We hit all the markers. We had DVP. We had pit stops. We had craziness in picking lines. A lot of uncertainty on my part, just knowing the guys you are around. But all-in-all, it was a solid night. Missing the crash there at the end was cool. I assumed the caution was out and I didn’t know we were racing back to the line. That was cool to race back to the line and get a top 10.

“Just want to thank everybody at Travellers Whiskey, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelly Earnhardt Miller and everybody that let me be a part of this. Thank you to everybody at Team Chevy and the Hendrick Engine Shop. This is a big moment for JR Motorsports, and we are excited about what the future holds for our company.”

Martin Truex Jr. competed in his first race since his retirement from full-time racing. Truex Jr. piloted the No. 56 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota for TRICON Garage in the team’s first-ever Cup Series race. Unfortunately for him, an incident destroyed the water cooler, ending the day with a 38th-place finish.

Two drivers also made their Daytona 500 debuts, both driving for Trackhouse Racing. Shane van Gisbergen was driving the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet and four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves was piloting the No. 91 Wendy’s Chevrolet in a scheduled one-off in Trackhouse’s PROJECT91 entry.

On-track incidents derailed their chances at winning as van Gisbergen finished 33rd and Castroneves finished 39th. However, Castroneves got a top five in the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona on Saturday.

Michael McDowell was the first recipient of the Xfinity Fastest Lap bonus point for setting the fastest lap time in the “Great American Race.”

GRID RANKING

 

For now, William Byron, the 2023 NASCAR GRID Rating Champion, will lead the Cup Series rating, followed by Tyler Reddick, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 23. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.

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