NASCAR
Hendrick Motorsports Wins First Daytona 500 in a Decade on Major Team Anniversary
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On the 40th anniversary of the team’s first ever start, Hendrick Motorsports puts together a Daytona 500 1-2 finish. William Byron was ahead of Alex Bowman at the right time when a last-lap caution flew. The race was over just before the pack hit turn one. The 26-year-old from Charlotte is now a Daytona 500 champion, earning the biggest win of his life.
The only incident from the race’s first half happened early; three drivers suffered terminal damage on lap six. John Hunter Nemechek was pushed out of the high groove in turn four, into the paths of Harrison Burton and Carson Hocevar. As both the Nos. 21 and 77 came back up the track, Ryan Preece and Jimmie Johnson made contact. Johnson, Preece, and Nemechek were all able to continue with wounded cars. Amazingly, this was the lone on-track trouble across either Stage.
Both opening Stages would be decided by last-lap passes. Chase Elliott got the upper hand over Kyle Busch in Stage 1, while Ryan Blaney snuck by teammate Austin Cindric for Stage 2.
The intensity ratcheted up in the third Stage, with consistent three-wide jostling throughout the pack. The clean racing came to an abrupt end though with eight laps left, with the field flying apart in turn three. Alex Bowman gave Brad Keselowski a bit too much of a bump going for the lead, sending the 6 up into the paths of numerous others.
In the end, 23 cars would be involved in this melee. Favorites taken out here included: Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, and nearly a dozen more.
Following a brief red flag, the race would resume with only four laps remaining. Ross Chastain and William Byron were dueling for the victory, down to the white flag.
Just before beginning the last lap, Chastain went for it. The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet spun through the grass, along with Austin Cindric. The caution flew immediately, with William Byron ahead of Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman. Byron had just taken the white flag mere seconds before the yellow waved.
“(Daytona 500 champion) sounds really damn good,” Byron said. “Just thanks to an awesome crowd for coming out. I have so many emotions, obviously hate what happened on the backstretch. I just got pushed and got sideways. Just so proud of this team, 40th anniversary to the day on Monday. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all of the opportunities. Now we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, this is a good start obviously. The Daytona 500, it’s fricking awesome!!”
“We obviously tried to lay back and save fuel for most of the race. We would get up there at the end of the Stages and make some moves. Just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, Chevrolet especially. Everybody that allows us to do this. I’m just a kid from racing on computers. Winning the Daytona 500, I can’t believe it.”
“I wish my dad was here, he’s sick, but this win’s for him. We’ve been through so much, we used to sit up in the grandstands together and watch the race. This is so fricking cool.”
After going a decade without claiming a Daytona 500 triumph, two of Rick Hendrick’s drivers deliver him his ninth Harley J. Earl Trophy. This ties Petty Enterprises for most Daytona 500 wins by a team.
Rounding out a 1-2 sweep for Hendrick was Alex Bowman. Despite no front row start this season, the Ally 48 does get its best finish yet in The Great American Race. Christopher Bell, Corey Lajoie, and Bubba Wallace were the rest of the top-five. The remainder of the top-10 were: AJ Allmendinger, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson, and Chase Briscoe. Hear from some of these top finishers below.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday from Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Ambetter Health 400 will go green at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Ever since the reconfiguration into a drafting track two years ago, Byron has two of the four victories on the new surface. The 24 car will try and go back-to-back after their biggest win yet.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images
