Daytona 500: William Byron wins wild NASCAR Cup opener as Ross Chastain wrecks

Byron, who had never finished better than 21st in the NASCAR Cup season opener, grabbed the lead from Ross Chastain on a restart with four of 200 laps remaining.

Byron had just taken the white flag – signaling the start of the final lap – when a multi-car wreck erupted behind him which forced NASCAR to immediately throw a caution, which froze the field.

That locked Byron, 26, into the victory in Monday’s rain-delayed “Great American Race” – the 302nd Cup win for HMS.

The win Byron’s 11th of his career and comes on the heels of his first appearance last season in the Championship 4 competing for a series title.

"It sounds really damn good.," Byron said when asked how it feels to be called a Daytona 500 champion. "Thanks to an awesome crowd for coming out. I have so many emotions.

"Obviously hate what happened on that backstretch (earlier). I just got pushed and got sideways. But so proud of this team 40th anniversary to the day on Monday. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, and we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start, obviously.

"Daytona 500, it's freaking awesome. Let's go!"

Byron credited his No. 24 team's strategy throughout the race in getting him in position for the win. 

"We obviously laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race, and we would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves, but yeah, just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, Chevrolet, everybody that allows us to do this." he said. 

"I'm just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500, I can't believe it. I wish my dad was here. He's sick, but this is for him, man. We've been through so much, and we sat up in the grandstands together and watched the race. This is so freaking cool."

Chastain was behind Byron on the outside coming down the frontstretch when he attempted to cut to his inside for the lead but instead made contact with Austin Cindric, which triggered the final caution.

Byron’s Hendrick teammate, Alex Bowman ended up second, Christopher Bell was third, Corey LaJoie fourth and Bubba Wallace rallied from a late pit stop for fuel to finish fifth.

Completing the top-10 were A.J. Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe.

Stage 1

Following some late green flag stops for fuel, Chase Elliott passed Kyle Busch on the last of 65 laps and claimed the Stage 1 win. Kyle Larson was second, Chastain third, Bowman fourth and Byron fifth as Chevrolets took the top six spots.

A lap 5 wreck collected seven cars and knocked Harrison Burton, Carson Hocevar and Kaz Grala out of the race early.

Trouble early in the #Daytona500 #NASCAR

@NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/EXNnglwqG4

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 19, 2024

Stage 2

Ryan Blaney shoved Cindric to the lead, then passed him on the last lap and held on to take the Stage 2 win by 0.117 seconds.

Daniel Suarez was third, Busch – who led entering the last lap – was fourth and Reddick rounded out the top five. Busch rallied from a safety violation on his green flag pit stop to get back in contention for the stage victory.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead lap cars elected to pit with Cindric first off pit road. Suarez was penalized by NASCAR for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

During the break, Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet dropped to the apron of the track and appeared to be trailing smoke. He made it to pit road when it was discovered he was missing the lug nut on his left-front wheel.

Trouble for Kyle Busch after his pit stop following #Daytona500 stage two. pic.twitter.com/eLujghp1oU

— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) February 19, 2024

The final stage went green on lap 137 and Cindric out front.

With 50 laps remaining, LaJoie and Busch battled side by side for the lead and two laps later Hamlin moved out front for the first time in the race.

A group of Fords led by Joey Logano used the inside line to power to the front with 36 laps to go.

Hemrick led a group of five cars from the back of the field to kick off the final round of green flag pit stops with 22 laps remaining. Most of the Toyota drivers followed a lap later.

Once the cycle of stops was completed, Suarez cycled to the lead with 14 laps remaining. He was followed by Byron and Elliott. 

On Lap 192, Byron hooked Brad Keselowski entering Turn 3 which sent Keselowski up the track and into Logano and triggered a huge wreck that ended up collecting 23 cars.

After three hours of precision, it’s all gone wrong with less than ten laps go!

RED FLAG. #DAYTONA500

@NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/Vd4LU90FWv

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) February 20, 2024

NASCAR red flagged the race for nearly 16 minutes to clean the track of debris. Several cars elected to pit but Chastain remained on the track and in the lead.

On the restart with four laps remaining, Chastain led the way followed by Byron, Bowman and Cindric. Byron quickly powered to the lead after the restart.

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	200	3:10'52.259		10	51
2	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	200	+0.006 3:10'52.265	0.006	13	42
3	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	200	+1.390 3:10'53.649	1.384	11	34
4	C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	200	+2.511 3:10'54.770	1.121	13	33
5	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	200	+2.614 3:10'54.873	0.103	14	39
6	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	200	+2.615 3:10'54.874	0.001	12
7	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	200	+3.416 3:10'55.675	0.801	13	30
8	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	200	+4.478 3:10'56.737	1.062	11	29
9	N. Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	200	+4.711 3:10'56.970	0.233	12	28
10	C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	200	+4.712 3:10'56.971	0.001	10	27
11	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	200	+5.300 3:10'57.559	0.588	11	35
12	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	200	+6.501 3:10'58.760	1.201	11	37
13	Z. Smith Spire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	200	+7.174 3:10'59.433	0.673	11	24
14	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	200	+8.103 3:11'00.362	0.929	11	33
15	M. Truex Jr Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	200	+11.562 3:11'03.821	3.459	11	24
16	D. Hemric Kaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	200	+12.121 3:11'04.380	0.559	12	21
17	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	200	+12.435 3:11'04.694	0.314	11	20
18	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	200	+25.745 3:11'18.004	13.310	13	20
19	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	200	+27.333 3:11'19.592	1.588	14	22
20	D. Ragan RFK Racing	60		Ford	200	+1'48.172 3:12'40.431	1'20.839	18	17
21	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	199	+1 Lap 3:09'43.990	1 Lap	9	24
22	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:09'44.239	0.249	9	24
23	R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:10'55.423	1'11.184	15	14
24	R. Herbst Rick Ware Racing	15		Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:10'58.004	2.581	12
25	J. Berry Stewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:11'00.755	2.751	10	12
26	J. Haley Rick Ware Racing	51		Ford	199	+1 Lap 3:11'03.108	2.353	11	11
27	A. Alfredo Beard Motorsports	62		Chevrolet	198	+2 Laps 3:11'18.305	1 Lap	11
28	J. Johnson Legacy Motor Club	84		Toyota	196	+4 Laps 3:11'06.000	2 Laps	12	9
29	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	192	+8 Laps 2:56'37.956	4 Laps	15	14	Accident
30	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	192	+8 Laps 2:56'39.348	1.392	8	17	Accident
31	R. Stenhouse Jr JTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	192	+8 Laps 2:56'59.552	20.204	17	9	Accident
32	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	191	+9 Laps 2:55'01.089	1 Lap	8	5	Accident
33	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	191	+9 Laps 2:55'01.199	0.110	8	4	Accident
34	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	191	+9 Laps 2:55'01.460	0.261	9	12	Accident
35	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	191	+9 Laps 2:55'01.469	0.009	9	2	Accident
36	M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	176	+24 Laps 3:12'10.503	15 Laps	14	1
37	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	146	+54 Laps 3:11'32.411	30 Laps	12	1
38	K. Grala Front Row Motorsports	36		Ford	5	+195 Laps 4'06.110	141 Laps	3	1	Accident
39	H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	5	+195 Laps 4'06.158	0.048	3	1	Accident
40	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	5	+195 Laps 4'07.075	0.917	5	1	Accident
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