William Byron’s No. 24 NASCAR Chevy Is 2024 Daytona 500 Champion: Video

Avoiding major incident with just eight laps left and again on the final lap of The Great American Race, William Byron, driver of the No. 24 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1, took home the coveted 2024 Daytona 500 trophy on February 19^th, 2024.

In fact, Byron was one of the catalysts that set off the 23-car wreck on Lap 192. A shove from his Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) teammate, Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Camaro, caused Byron to get loose and slam into the side of the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse of Brad Keselowski, who then spun into the pack and collected nearly half the field.

Byron faced competition from the No. 1 NASCAR Chevy of Ross Chastain, who looked strong heading to the white flag. Then, contact from the No. 2 Mustang of Austin Cindric sent Chastain spinning into the infield, clearing the way for Byron to win with Bowman in hot pursuit. In fact, their one-two finish breaks the decade-long HMS drought in The Great American race, as the last time the motorsports team found Victory Lane was when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in 2014.

“I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500,” said Byron. “I can’t believe it. I wish my dad was here. He’s sick, but this is for him, man. We’ve been through so much, and we sat up in the grandstands together and watched the race [when Byron was younger]. This is so freaking cool.”

HMS owner, Rick Hendrick, said, “I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better. When we thought about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place. We win this on our 40^th to the day, it’s just… and tied a record [of nine Daytona 500 wins] now, so that’s awesome.”

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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