Hendrick Motorsports returned to victory lane in the Daytona 500 on Monday night, as William Byron finished ahead of teammate Alex Bowman at the line in a chaotic ending to the race.
The race for the win changed drastically inside of the final 10 laps, when a series of pushes from Bowman to Byron caused a massive accident that affected more than half of the field.
Byron was unable to keep his car straight and veered into the side of Brad Keselowski at the front of the pack. Keselowski shot up the track into Joey Logano, creating a huge pileup as cars had nowhere to go.
There's trouble at the front of the field! #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/6wVECKKWY1
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024
Crucially for Byron, he drove through unscathed, as did his teammate Bowman. Byron controlled the inside line coming to the white flag – but just as they were about to cross the line, a collision between Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric brought out a race-ending caution. As Byron had crossed the line to start the final lap before the caution began, he sealed his first Daytona 500 victory.
A race he'll never forget! @WilliamByron is a #DAYTONA500 Champion! pic.twitter.com/TRAPvHjZni
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024
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