William Byron avoids late wrecks to win 2nd straight Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (AP) — According to the Associated Press, William Byron fortuitously missed the ferocious wrecks down the stretch at the Daytona 500 that knocked out contenders racing for the checkered flag and left him with a repeat victory in sight.
Still, sitting ninth with one lap left in an overtime finish, the odds seemed against the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet to escape the rest of the race unscathed, or even have enough time to pull off the comeback win.
Thanks to one more crash, Byron used a clean ride on his final lap to escape the chaos and race to his second straight Daytona 500 victory. He dodged a string of late-race wreckage that knocked out a chunk of contenders and sent the Hendrick Motorsports driver into victory lane Sunday night at Daytona International Speedway.
“It’s not all luck to win twice in a row,” Byron said.
Maybe not. But Byron certainly was in the right place by racing near the outside wall in overtime to become the first back-to-back winner since Denny Hamlin in 2019-20.
Byron took advantage of another major mess on the final lap — NASCAR did not drop the caution and let the field race to the finish — and took another, familiar burnout in Daytona International Speedway.
