DAYTONA – William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) won the Daytona 500 to score his 11th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
It’s the first Daytona 500 win for Byron.
A massive crash he had a hand in involved half of the 40-car field with eight laps to go, which promoted him to second place for the restart with six laps remaining. Byron, leading the inside line, got past Ross Chastain on lap 197 and took the white flag as Chastain and Austin Cindric wrecked behind him, making him the race winner.
NASCAR determined that Byron was in front when the yellow flag came out on the final lap.
There were five caution periods for a total of 20 laps. Twenty of the 40 drivers in the Daytona 500 finished on the lead lap.
Byron leaves Daytona as the championship leader with a four-point advantage over second-place Alex Bowman.
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stewart-Haas Racing Finish:
- Noah Gragson (Started 38th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 20th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
- Ryan Preece (Started 25th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)
- Josh Berry (Started 30th, Finished 25th / Running, completed 199 of 200 laps)
SHR Points:
- Chase Briscoe (13th with 29 points)
- Noah Gragson (15th with 28 points)
- Ryan Preece (25th with 14 points)
- Josh Berry (26th with 12 points)
Gragson earned his second top-10 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
This was Gragson’s third career start in the Daytona 500, resulting in his best Daytona 500 finish. His previous best result in The Great American Race was 24th, earned last year.
“We led some laps early but came down there at the end to fix some damage right before the final restart. We didn’t have much area to go, but it’s better than being wrecked. Overall, we’ll take a top-10. We got pinned on the bottom and didn’t have a lot of room to go and then the race ended. I feel so good being behind the wheel. This whole Stewart-Haas team did a great job, especially getting the backup car going,” said Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Black Rifle Coffee/Ranger Boats Ford Mustang.
Gragson led once for five laps – his first laps led at Daytona.
Briscoe earned his second top-10 in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona.
This was Briscoe’s fourth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains third, earned in 2022.
“Anytime you can finish this race in one piece is nice. It was hard to get a track position. It seemed like wherever you fell in after two or three laps of green-flag pit stops, you ran there the whole time. That was a weird race. It seems like every time we run these superspeedways, it turns into more and more of a fuel-mileage race. I thought we would be OK there at the end, and we had to start 12th or 13th on the restart, and it was hard to do anything. We were all bottled up. Coming out of here with a 10th-place finish, missing the wrecks, and not being in a huge points hole is nice. We have to play the same game next week at Atlanta and, hopefully, we can do it again, but a couple of spots better,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang.
This was Preece’s fifth career start in the Daytona 500. His best Daytona 500 finish remains sixth, earned in 2021.
“Speeding on pit road screwed us, and then ending it was not getting the Lucky Dog when we should’ve gotten the Lucky Dog. I felt like we earned our right with seven to go to get the Lucky Dog and to at least compete for a top-five or a top-10 or put ourselves in position there, but we had it taken away for no reason. Frustrated is the word right now,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang.
This was Berry’s first career start in the Daytona 500, but his second career NASCAR Cup Series start in Daytona. He finished 22nd in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 last August.
Berry led one lap to score his first lap led at Daytona.
“I feel like I learned a lot and raced well. There were a couple of moves I wish I could have back, maybe here or there, but overall, I was pretty happy we could work toward the front and maintain it. I thought the car was really good. I hate we got turned on pit road. That got us behind. We got into the Lucky Dog position, but it just didn’t work out in the end. Overall, it was a good night to learn. I hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved,” said Josh Berry, the No. 4 SUNNYD Ford Mustang driver.
Next Up:
The next NASCAR Cup Series scheduled event is the Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, Feb. 25, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
