DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A caution flag fell as soon as the field took the white flag, allowing William Byron to win the 2024 Daytona 500, the ninth victory in "The Great American Race" for Hendrick Motorsports.
Byron, a Charlotte native, led only the final four laps after making his way to the front with a push from teammate Alex Bowman. Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric challenged for the win in the closing laps but spun out after Corey LaJoie bumped Cindric. The crash happened just as the field was taking the white flag, prompting a race-ending caution.
"I have so many emotions," Byron said after the win. "[I'm] extremely blessed for all my opportunities. We have a lot to prove this year... [Winning the] Daytona 500! It's freaking awesome!"
Bowman, Christopher Bell, LaJoie, and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five.
A huge wreck with 10 laps remaining took out a majority of the race's top competitors. As the field ran three wide, Alex Bowman bumped William Byron into Brad Keselowski, who spun out and collected over a dozen cars. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, and Daniel Suárez suffered damage in the wreck after spending time upfront.
It was just the third time in the Daytona 500's 66-year history that the race was held on a Monday. The race was pushed back from Sunday as unrelenting rain postponed both the Daytona 500 and the Xfinity Series’ United Rentals 300, creating a first-ever doubleheader for the season-opening events.
After a delay of over 24 hours, some drivers had their Daytona 500 bid ended on just the fifth lap of the race. John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Harrison Burton, sending him sideways into Carson Hocevar. Burton and Hocevar slid into the infield grass before careening back onto the track and collecting Ryan Preece, Kaz Grala, Austin Dillon, and Jimmie Johnson.
Grala, Burton, and Hocevar were too damaged to continue and made up the final three spots on the grid. Dillon and Johnson were able to continue but fell way out of contention. Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished a disappointing 28th.
The remainder of the first two stages ran mostly incident-free. A few mishaps happened during pit stops but nothing too major.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers forced themselves to the front by the end of the first stage with Chase Elliott taking the win in stage one. Ryan Blaney won stage two after making a move around teammate Austin Cindric.
The "big one" avoided Daytona until around lap 190 when Byron was turned into Keselowski and started an enormous crash. Larson, Keselowski, Noah Gragson, Hamlin, Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Logano, Daniel Hemric, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, Erik Jones, Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs, Anthony Alfredo, and Daniel Suárez were all involved.
Chastain and Cindric traded the lead when the race resumed. Byron got a push from Bowman to take the lead with four laps remaining.
Hendrick Motorsports last won the Daytona 500 in 2014 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon (3), Jimmie Johnson, (2), Geoff Bodine, and Darrel Waltrip are the other drivers to win the Daytona 500 with the team. The ninth victory in the race ties Hendrick Motorsports with Petty Enterprises for the most all-time.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action on Sunday, Feb. 25 for the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch is the defending race winner.