William Byron Wins Daytona 500

With one final lap to go and trailing in 9th place, a last-minute collision allowed William Byron a clean break to rip the No. 24 Chevrolet straight through the wreckage and cross the checkered finish line to land his second straight Daytona 500 victory the night of Feb. 16. 

Passing the white flag in overtime to enter his final lap, Byron was still eight cars behind first place. His circumstances took an unexpected turn as his position riding the outside wall allowed him to cleanly break away following a nasty multicar wreck involving Austin Cindric and leader Denny Hamlin. Byron found an empty path and zipped to the front of the pack, sending him straight to the victory lane unscathed.  

Byron’s position was more than mere luck as he said he trusted his intuition to part the sea of spinning cars and make it out of the demolition. 

“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but I just trusted my instinct on the last lap there,” Byron said once he emerged from his car following his celebratory burnout, according to WNDB. 

Familiar with the track at the Daytona International Speedway from his 2024 win, Byron is the first back-to-back winner since Hamlin in 2020. He is also the fifth NASCAR driver to ever accomplish that feat, according to NASCAR. 

The 27-year-old took home more than just the coveted Harley J. Earl Trophy. He also broke Jeff Gordon’s record of being the youngest driver to win consecutive Daytona 500s. 

Gordon now serves as the vice chairman of Byron’s team, Hendrick Motorsports, and he discussed the broken record in an interview with FOX Sports.  

“I hope he breaks them all,” Gordon said. “I’m in full support of that.” 

Byron looks to ride this momentum as he heads to the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia Feb. 23 for the next race in the Cup Series, the Ambetter Health 400. The event will air on FOX Sports at 3 p.m. 

White is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X.