The Daytona 500 was scheduled for Sunday (2/18) but had to be postponed until Monday (2/19) due to rain.
The Great American Race ran mostly incident free. There were only three cautions for accidents on the track. They came at the start and the finish of the race. The first caution came on lap six and involved six cars. The drivers continued to race hard, but did it with a little more control after that.
There were 20 different leaders that exchanged the lead 41 times during the course of the race. Chase Elliott claimed the Stage 1 win. Defending NASCAR Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney was the winner in Stage 2.
As the race was drawing to the conclusion, the intensity ramped up. That is when the second accident took place. With just nine laps to go the “Big One” happened. Brad Keselowski and William Byron’s cars came together turning Brads car and causing an incident that officially involved 23 cars. There was a red flag issued for 15 minutes and 27 seconds to clean up the accident.
When the race re-started, William Byron was able to capture the lead with four laps to go. He held that lead to take the white flag as cars were again crashing. The two-car incident caused NASCAR to have to issue the yellow flag. The NASCAR rule is that “When the leader takes the white flag, the next flag ends the race.” William Byron was the leader at the moment of caution and therefore became the winner.
The win was William Byron’s 11th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is his second win at Daytona, but his first win in the Daytona 500. It gave his racing team, Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), their ninth Daytona 500 win. That ties HMS with Petty Enterprises for the most All-Time Daytona 500 wins at nine each. The win also comes on the 40th Anniversary of HMS’s first race in NASCAR’s top division.
Alex Bowman finished in second place with Christopher Bell in third. Corey LaJoie took home fourth place and Bubba Wallace claimed fifth. See the complete race results for the 2024 Daytona 500 here.
William Byron leaves Daytona with the win and the lead in the point standings. Alex Bowman finished second holds the same spot in the standings. Christopher Bell finished third and sits in third in the standings. However, Chase Elliott’s stage win paired with a 14th place finish puts him in fourth place in the standings. Bubba Wallace finished in fifth and holds fifth in the standings. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings here.
Up next is the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday, February 25th.
By: Buck Stevens
