William Byron bided his time and kept his nose clean during the 2025 Daytona 500. And it paid off, because when the frontrunners wrecked in the closing laps of The Great American Race, his No. 24 NASCAR Chevy was in the right place at the right time, making him only the fifth driver in history to win the Daytona 500 back-to-back.
Byron never strayed far from the front, taking advantage of a late-race incident involving leaders Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric. Byron swung high, throwing his No. 24 NASCAR Chevy close to the wall as he barely squeezed past with the No. 45 Toyota TRD Camry of Tyler Reddick in tow. He didn’t look back, and even as the pack unfolded into chaos behind him, he flashed across the line well shut of the field, winning by 0.113 seconds over Reddick.
“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there,” Byron said. “I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom, and I was honestly going to go third (top) lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back.”
He added, “Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. But just really proud of this team. Worked super hard all week and had an amazing car. Just had a really hard time with the fuel-saving and kind of staying towards the front. Crazy. I can’t honestly believe that. But we’re here. So proud of it.”
It was a long ordeal for fans, drivers, and crews alike. Just 10 laps in, rain drenched the track, putting a halt to the action for three hours. A series of early-race wrecks took out several strong NASCAR Chevy contenders, including the No. 91 of Helio Castroneves, who finished 39th. The No. 40 Chevy of Justin Allgaier finished ninth.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 5 | 24 | William Byron | Axalta Chevrolet | 201 | 10 | Chevrolet |
2 | 11 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Nasty Beast Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
3 | 40 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | Carvana Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
4 | 1 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 201 | 4 | Toyota TRD Camry |
5 | 18 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Dollar Tree Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
6 | 38 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 201 | 11 | Chevrolet |
7 | 16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Peak Ford | 201 | 23 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
8 | 2 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 201 | 59 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
9 | 19 | 40 | * Justin Allgaier(i) | Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
10 | 6 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 201 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
11 | 25 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Go Bowling Chevrolet | 201 | 4 | Chevrolet |
12 | 4 | 43 | Erik Jones | AdventHealth Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
13 | 36 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
14 | 7 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet | 201 | 3 | Chevrolet |
15 | 17 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 201 | 2 | Chevrolet |
16 | 23 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
17 | 24 | 35 | Riley Herbst # | Monster Energy/Zero Sugar Toyota | 201 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
18 | 31 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | SUNNYD Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
19 | 35 | 7 | Justin Haley | Chili's Ride the 'Dente Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
20 | 22 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
21 | 30 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 201 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
22 | 12 | 1 | * Corey LaJoie | Take 5 Oil Change/DuraMax Ford | 201 | 10 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
23 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet | 201 | 0 | Chevrolet |
24 | 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | National Debt Relief Toyota | 201 | 6 | Toyota TRD Camry |
25 | 28 | 51 | Cody Ware | Parts Plus/Jacob Construction Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
26 | 34 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Kroger/Cottonelle Ford | 200 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
27 | 14 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 199 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
28 | 32 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Rush Truck Centers Ford | 198 | 2 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
29 | 3 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 197 | 18 | Toyota TRD Camry |
30 | 33 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 196 | 1 | Chevrolet |
31 | 20 | 20 | Christopher Bell | DEWALT/Interstate Batteries Toyota | 195 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
32 | 27 | 60 | Ryan Preece | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 195 | 6 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
33 | 26 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | WeatherTech Chevrolet | 193 | 0 | Chevrolet |
34 | 21 | 8 | Kyle Busch | zone Chevrolet | 186 | 0 | Chevrolet |
35 | 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 185 | 43 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
36 | 37 | 38 | Zane Smith | Speedy Cash Ford | 108 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
37 | 29 | 21 | Josh Berry | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 105 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
38 | 39 | 56 | * Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota | 71 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
39 | 41 | 91 | * Helio Castroneves | Wendy's Chevrolet | 70 | 0 | Chevrolet |
40 | 9 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Chevrolet | 70 | 0 | Chevrolet |
41 | 13 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Celsius Chevrolet | 42 | 0 | Chevrolet |
Comments
Kudos for the win but look at the next 4 spots. All Toyota.
That’s nice. But… Restrictor plate racing as well as stage racing will be the death of NASCAR, or sadly another driver, one of these days.
Millions of dollars of taxpayer monies were spent so that Donald could have a spectacle like a tyrant. People were being killed in Red State flooding over the weekend. Shameful behavior. Selfish.
You know it’s a case of TDS when we’re talking racing but somebody needs to be recognized for their mental disorder. ” Here’s your sign.”.
Damn right I have TDS. This is a man who called military service members “suckers and losers.” This is a man who pardoned violent Capitol terrorists who killed police officers. He is a convicted felon. He is tearing legitimate government down like a despot. Why fire Park Rangers?
Elmo… Are you upset “how” He’s discovering the hundreds of millions (…so far) of miss-spent tax payer money or the fact He’s “discovered” hundreds of millions (…so far) of miss-spent tax-payer money?
Where? Nobody wants fraud, abuse or waste. Evidence? Facts? One time the pentagon paid 2 million for a toilet seat on a B-52. That’s waste. What now? Just because Donnie fired our Nuclear Regulatory Commission which secures our nukes from terrorists. I guess that’s waste.
Why is a Japanese brand part of The Great American Race? The US Marines who died fighting in WWII would be in total shock! It shows what money can do and Toyota has plenty to buy their influence that has paid off tremendously. Shame on US! The Asian brands sponsor MOST of all our supposedly US events. I have been to Japan and found the people very proud of their heritage and very few will support any type of US commerce. They also called US people mongrels because we mix the bloods, They are “Purebreds”. They consider US workers in Japanese plants in the US to be “prisoners of war” because they are working to make money for the Homeland.
I bet you have no problem with Donnie calling Hitler a great man and Elon giving a Nazi Salute. The men and women who fought against IMPERIAL Japan were heroes who made a democratic country out of them. They are now a very close ally against the Soviets and Chinese. Toyota has manufacturing facilities here and employs millions of workers. They love cars too and have a rich heritage with cars.
Logan’s is an idiot, champion from last yr is a joke. Didn’t deserve that and this race proved it. He wiped out a lot of good cars. Idiot didn’t have anywhere to go.
I agree with you Ken. A lucky SOB, too.
Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday……. oh wait
The idiots still believe Trump said military men were suckers when it was debunked as false. You tell a lie long enough and it becomes true.(gaslighting).That’s the mainstream narrative. Put one word in a statement and it changes the whole story. You people are a joke. You don’t even know anything about Hitler if you think Musk was imitating him.This is an automotive site, not a political site you morons.
G’day Mate!
People dissing trump are spinning their wheels because having an argument with a stupd person is futile. No amount of evidence will convince an idiot. MAGGOTS want to cut out wasteful spending which is good and includes welfare. Guess who gets the most welfare? RED states where all the maggots breed.
Blue Cities, Kamala.
Don the racist. Red states have the highest black population.
The white liberal is the greatest enemy of America and the greatest enemy of the black man.
Malcolm X.
Talking about you little donny, so go
put your pointy hood back on, angry little donny
Demolition Derby. At least F1 can race in a mild rain. And Caddy is going to get embarrassed in F1. If Chevy and Ford can’t run better than Toyota in a circle on our home turf maybe they should stay off the track. Looked like 10 year olds with bumper cars at the amusement park. Byron must be lhao. Totally lucked out .
What is the business case for GM throwing untold millions into NASCAR involvement?
GM seems to be all about business cases now that people are questioning EV investment.
Can I go buy a street version of the winning car?
I only watched the last couple of laps on YouTube because I was pretty sure how ALL three races would end. And I was right. What a joke. From here on out, I won’t even waste my time to see if I was correct on a race out come.
Hey misguided knuckle dragging montavious the word racist comes out of your mouth not mine. So wait by the mail box for your next welfare check! I am not a liberal. Right now it looks like the orange jesus is the greatest threat to all of us especially the black population.