DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Hendrick Motorsport driver William Byron defended his Daytona 500 victory Sunday and broke the record for most wins by a single race team in the event.
Bryon, 27, made the winning pass on the last lap while Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric wrecked just ahead of him. He beat Tyler Reddick back to the finish in front of a sold out crowd of over 150,000 race fans and hoisted the Harley J. Earl Trophy for the second year in a row.
“It's an amazing race,” Byron said to FOX Sports reporter Jamie Little. “Just really proud of our team, you know, I can't stress that enough. I'm just super thankful for this group and everything that they do.”
The victory broke a tie between Hendrick Motorsports and Petty Enterprises for the most Daytona 500 wins of all time. It was Rick Hendrick’s tenth victory in the Great American Race as a team owner.
Bryon drove from ninth to first in the final 2.5 miles of the race, and found the right amount of luck to capture the win. It was the 14th time in 67 years that the Daytona 500 was settled by a pass on the final lap.
Sunday’s victory also meant Bryon tied for 56th on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins list. He joined LeeRoy Yarbrough and Dick Hutcherson with 14th career victories.
As for Halmin, the final crash left the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a disappointing result. Hamlin, who entered the backstretch battling for his 55th Cup win, was ultimately credited with a 24th place finish.
“I understand everyone's trying to go for it,” Hamlin said after coming short of his fourth Daytona 500 title. “But you know, we just never made it and somebody else won.”
Penske Racing appeared to have the cars to beat in the early running, but several late crashes dashed their hopes. The organization led 125 of 200 laps, but Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney got eliminated after a multi-car accident with 15 laps remaining.
Cindric was Roger Penskes’s last hope at a win in the closing laps and took the white flag as the leader. However, contact with Hamlin as they battled down the backstretch left him with an eighth place finish.
Next week, NASCAR will return to the site of 2024’s thrilling three-wide race to the finish line at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The world’s best stock car drivers tackle the 1.5 mile superspeedway for the Ambetter Health 400 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.