William Byron dodges late crashes to repeat as Daytona 500 champion

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Chris Francis Sports Reporter

By Chris Francis (Sports Reporter), Jake Larsen (Video Editor)

William Byron waited through a four-hour rain delay and dodged three wrecks in the final 15 laps to win the Daytona 500. It was his second straight win in the Great American Race.
President Donald Trump was in attendance for pre-race activities, leading the cars around the track in his limousine.
Ryan Preece called on NASCAR to improve driver safety at Daytona after his car flipped in the air during the crash.

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It was a long day for drivers, crews and the fans in Daytona, Florida, Sunday, Feb. 16. However, for Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, it was all smiles in the end. Byron became just the fifth NASCAR driver in history to win back-to-back Daytona 500 races, and he is the first to do it in five years.

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President Donald Trump attended the pre-race festivities, the second time he’s been at Daytona while in office. The president led the cars around the track for a few laps before watching the start of the race from a suite.

Rain delays Daytona 500, race halted for four hours

The Great American Race started an hour earlier than usual in an attempt to avoid the rain but to no avail. After getting in just nine green flag laps, the race was halted due to the weather. The delay lasted four hours.

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The finish, however, was thrilling for the fans who stuck it out well into the night.

Thrilling finish at Daytona 500 after multiple crashes

There were three major crashes in the final 15 laps as drivers jockeyed to win the sports crown jewel.

The second crash with just five laps to go sent Ryan Preece’s car flying into the air, flipping over for the second time in three years at the superspeedway.

Afterwards, Preece called for more safety measures during restrictor plate races, like Daytona and Talladega, to help keep the cars on the ground.

“I think we know where there’s a problem at superspeedways, so I don’t want to be the example of you know when it finally does get somebody, I don’t want to be me, you know.” Preece said. “I got a 2-year-old daughter and just like a lot of us we have family, so something needs to be done because cars lifting off the ground like that, I mean that that felt honestly worse than Daytona in ’23. So, I don’t know.”

Preece’s crash pushed the race into overtime, leading to a dramatic finish with just two turns remaining on the final lap.

Byron seizes opportunity in overtime for second Daytona win

William Byron was running seventh when the leaders wrecked and the seas parted, giving Byron an opening to race through to the finish unscathed for his second straight Daytona win.

“It’s the best gift you can have probably. I don’t want to discredit the hard work that goes into this, all of our team.” Byron said. “We had a great Duel race, finished second in that and obviously having the experience of being up front at the superspeedways and being in contention to win I feel like that helped our selection there at the end. Just fortunate it worked out for us. It’s a great start to our year”

After winning Daytona last year, Byron won two more races. He is hoping to better that run this year, starting Sunday, Feb. 23, in Atlanta.

Tags: Daytona 500, NASCAR, Racing, Sports

It was a long day of racing – and some waiting – at Daytona Sunday. But well worth it for Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron who became just the 5th NASCAR driver in history to win back-to-back 500’s and the first to do it in five years.

President Trump was in attendance for pre-race festivities that began an hour earlier than normal because of the threat of rain. He led the field around for a few laps before watching the start of the race from a suite.
The earlier start time did not keep the rain at bay and there was a four-hour delay after getting in just 9 green flag laps.

But the finish, well into the night was thrilling for the fans who stuck it out. Three major crashes in the final 15 laps as drivers jockeyed to win the sports crown jewel.
The 2nd crash with just five laps to go sent Ryan Preece flying into the air, his car flipping for the 2nd time in three years at the superspeedway. Afterwards he called for more safety measures during restrictor plate races to keep the cars on the ground.

“I think we know where there’s a problem at Super Speedways so I don’t want to be the example of you know when it finally does get somebody I don’t want to be me you know I got a 2-year-old daughter and just like a lot of us we have family so something needs to be done because cars lifting off the ground like that I mean that that felt honestly worse than Daytona in ‘23 so I don’t know.”

That crash led to overtime and the dramatic finish with two turns left on the final lap. William Byron was running 7th when the leaders wrecked, the seas parted and Byron raced through to the finish unscathed for his 2nd straight Daytona win.

“It’s the best gift you can have probably. I don’t want to discredit the hard work that goes into this, all of our team. We had a great Duel race, finished 2nd in that and obviously having the experience of being up front at the superspeedways and being in contention to win I feel like that helped our selection there at the end. Just fortunate it worked out for us. It’s a great start to our year”

After winning Daytona last year Byron won two more races, he’s hoping to better that run this year, starting Sunday in Atlanta.
For Straight Arrow News, I’m Chris Francis.