After a rain-filled weekend, the skies finally cleared over Daytona International Speedway on Monday, allowing the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season to finally get underway. Still, a wet morning prompted the further postponement of the Xfinity Series race that was meant to precede the main event – so the Cup cars hit a completely green, freshly rinsed track.
While the field generally minded their manners all day outside of an early multi-car incident, chaos would reign supreme late with a huge 18-car wreck taking place with just ten to go. From the ashes, William Byron would eventually emerge victorious over the truncated field, collecting his first Daytona 500 win – and his first finish better than 21st in the 500 in his seventh try.
Hendrick Motorsports would also claim the runner-up position, as Alex Bowman came home P2. Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie, and Bubba Wallace made up the rest of the top-five. After dominating at times throughout the day, only two members of the Ford camp would finish inside the top-10 – Noah Gragson in ninth, and Chase Briscoe in 10th.
As it happened:
Two of Ford’s new dark horse Mustangs piloted by former Daytona 500 champions Joey Logano & Michael McDowell led the field to the green in the 66th running of the Great American Race.
The first stage started with a bang, as just six laps in Brad Keselowski gave a bad push to John Hunter Nemechek just inside of the top-10, sending the #42 into the side of the #21 of Harrison Burton, who collected Carson Hocevar sending the two sliding through the infield grass. Neither car could avoid sliding back up onto the track, doing so in front of several cars in the back half of the field of the field. Other cars collected included seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, 2018 Daytona 500 winner Austin Dillon, and Kaz Grala.
Burton, Hocevar, & Grala would not be able to continue, while Johnson & Dillon would carry on with damage.
Following the early wreck, strategies varied as most drivers pitted, while others stayed out, including defending Series champion Ryan Blaney. The race stayed green to the end of the stage, which injected quite a bit of chaos into the later parts of the stage, as multiple different waves of manufacturers came to pit road throughout the closing laps. Eventually, the Chevrolets and Toyotas sorted out to the front, and following a close battle with his teammate Kyle Larson (and a fortuitous push from Ross Chastain), Chase Elliott picked up the stage win.
Stage One Results:
1. Chase Elliott
2. Kyle Larson
3. Ross Chastain
4. Alex Bowman
5. William Byron
6. Kyle Busch
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Daniel Suárez
Stage two saw Joey Logano shoot back to the lead followed by the revamped #51 RWR car of Justin Haley. The racing stayed pretty intense, as the field ran two and three wide for the next few dozen laps with Logano & Haley leading the top, while Todd Gilliland & Bubba Wallace led the bottom line. Gilliland eventually moved in front of Logano on the outside line, taking the lead with 40 to go in the stage.
With 22 to go in the stage the front of the pack shook up as cars began jockeying for the bottom line for upcoming pit stops allowing Kyle Busch to sort out to the lead. Half of the filed pitted with 20 to go. Josh Berry was spun into his pit box by John Hunter Nemechek, thankfully collecting no damage, and Ryan Preece received a speeding penalty.
The rest of the field came to pit road in smaller waves over the next handful of laps. Stops concluded with 15 to go in the stage, with Kyle Larson eventually sorting out to the lead. It wouldn’t last long though, as Austin Cindric would use some strong pushes from his teammate Ryan Blaney to take the lead with Kyle Busch leading the top line.
With five to go in the stage, Justin Haley had to pit by himself with fuel pressure issues.
Following some incredibly intense racing to the stage break, Ryan Blaney hung his teammate out to dry, taking the lead from Austin Cindric in turn 4 of the final lap to nab the stage win. Blaney had previously said over the radio that he was not going to help any of his teammates for the rest of the race after they allowed him to lose the draft during green flag pit stops – and he clearly held true to his word.
Stage Two Results:
1. Ryan Blaney
2. Austin Cindric
3. Daniel Suárez
4. Kyle Busch
5. Tyler Reddick
6. William Byron
7. Bubba Wallace
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
9. A.J. Allmendinger
10. Chris Buescher
Stage break pit stops saw the field come in for four tires & fuel, with Austin Cindric snatching the lead back from his teammate. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs would receive the free pass.
Kyle Busch would run into some major trouble during pit stops, as he left pit road before his left front tire was fully attached. Somehow he managed to limp the car around the 2.5 mile track without fully losing the wheel or heavily damaging the car, but nonetheless it relegated the #8 to the back of the pack.
The green flag would fly with Austin Cindric leading the high line and Bubba Wallace leading the inside. The field would run three-wide for several laps as manufacturers jockeyed for position attempting to get lined up together. All the while, Kaulig Racing teammates A.J. Allmendinger & Daniel Hemric would link up and lead the bottom line to the front.
With 50 to go, the inevitable happened as Denny Hamlin – who had been hanging out towards the back most of the race – made a run to the front and took the lead from Corey LaJoie.
The field would run the next 25 laps two by two 15 rows deep with Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano going back & forth for the lead, with one final round of green flag pit stops quickly approaching.
Those stops would begin with 22 to go. The first manufacturer group to pit was the Toyotas with the lone exception of Denny Hamlin who was much further ahead in the pack. Hamlin would pit on the next lap, only joined by Kyle Busch and Justin Haley. The Fords would duck to pit road with 20 to go, while the Chevys would come down the next lap.
When stops concluded, the Chevy camp initially prevailed thanks to some crafty blocking, but soon a revolving door of Chevys started jockeying for the lead, with Ross Chastain eventually settling out to the lead.
With nine to go though, the big one struck – and struck HARD. Coming down the backstretch, William Byron took a big push from Alex Bowman, which turned him down into runner-up Brad Keselowski, who then slid up the track right in front of the pack. From there, it was up to luck alone whether drivers made it through.
All told, 18 cars got caught up the the fray, with eight receiving enough damage to not be able to continue.
Following the red flag period, several cars pitted for tires and to repair damage. Most leaders stayed out though, led by Ross Chastain, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Austin Cindric, and Chase Elliott. The race went back to green with four to go.
Coming to the white flag, Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric got together and slid through the infield grass, with the caution flying just barely after race leader William Byron took the white flag, giving Byron his first career Daytona 500 win.
Final Results:
1. William Byron
2. Alex Bowman
3. Christopher Bell
4. Corey Lajoie
5. Bubba Wallace
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. John Hunter Nemechek
8. Chase Briscoe
9. Erik Jones
10. Noah Gragson
11. Kyle Larson
12. Kyle Busch
13. Zane Smith
14. Chase Elliott
15. Martin Truex Jr
16. Daniel Hemric
17. Ty Gibbs
18. Chris Buescher
19. Denny Hamlin
20. David Ragan
21. Ross Chastain
22. Austin Cindric
23. Ryan Preece
24. Riley Herbst
25. Josh Berry
26. Justin Haley
27. Anthony Alfredo
28. Jimmie Johnson
29. Tyler Reddick (DNF)
30. Ryan Blaney (DNF)
31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (DNF)
32. Joey Logano (DNF)
33. Brad Keselowski (DNF)
34. Daniel Suárez (DNF)
35. Todd Gilliland (DNF)
36. Michael McDowell
37. Austin Dillon
38. Kaz Grala (DNF)
39. Harrison Burton (DNF)
40. Carson Hocevar (DNF)
Image credit: Daytona International Speedway on X
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