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William Byron Wins Second Straight Daytona 500 In No. 24 NASCAR Chevy

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.

Photo of the No. 24 NASCAR Chevy of William Byron on Pit Road during the 2025 Daytona 500. Byron would go on to win.

“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.

Daytona 500 Results, February 16, 2025
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

Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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Comments

  1. Kudos for the win but look at the next 4 spots. All Toyota.

    Reply
  2. 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.

    Reply
  3. 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.

    Reply
    1. 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.”.

      Reply
      1. 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?

        Reply
        1. 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?

          Reply
          1. 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.

            Reply
  4. 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.

    Reply
    1. 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.

      Reply
  5. 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.

    Reply
    1. I agree with you Ken. A lucky SOB, too.

      Reply
  6. Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday……. oh wait

    Reply
  7. 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.

    Reply
    1. G’day Mate!

      Reply
  8. 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.

    Reply
    1. Blue Cities, Kamala.

      Reply
    2. 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

      Reply
  9. 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 .

    Reply
  10. 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?

    Reply
  11. 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.

    Reply
  12. 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.

    Reply

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