William Byron won a dramatic and rain-delayed Daytona 500 on Monday, finishing ahead of teammate Alex Bowman after more than half the 40-car field was involved in a massive crash.
Byron scored the biggest victory of his career in the ‘Great American Race’ after winning a four-lap shootout. He and Bowman secured a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports.
The huge crash with nine laps to go in Florida saw Byron move up to second place on the restart.
He secured victory after another wreck broke out behind him. Byron was previously involved in the big crash, in which Bowman pulled his Hendrick Motorsports teammate into the back lane when Byron lost control, turned into Brad Keselowski and all but destroyed the field.
The Presidents’ Day Daytona 500 was postponed one day due to rain.
Monday’s Daytona 500 saw a massive crash involving more than half the field in Florida
Cars collided and were left scattered throughout the Daytona International Speedway
Sparks and smoke fly from the cars after the crash, which had less than ten laps to go
And as the late afternoon start turned into night at historic Daytona International Speedway, and with the white flag approaching, Ross Chastain made a move into the center lane and crashed with second-place Austin Cindric.
That gave Byron his first Daytona 500 victory and the 11th of his career in the series in the 66th edition of the ‘Great American Race’.
Teammate Bowman finished second, followed by Christopher Bell and Corey LaJoie.
Pole winner Joey Logano led 45 laps in the race, but finished 32nd after being collected in the biggest wreck of the race.
Earlier, Jimmie Johnson was passed by Carson Hocevar on lap 5 to finish 28th.
As Logano and Michael McDowell cruised through the field at full speed on Lap 5, Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Ford bumped the No. 42 Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek in about 10th place, leading to a seven-car wreck that left Johnson’s No. 84 Toyota was involved.
After the final green flag pit stops with just over twenty laps to go, the cars ran three wide across eight rows deep until fourth-place Byron passed second-place Keselowski and caused the big crash.
William Byron managed to win the rain-postponed race in Florida on Monday
Byron, driver of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the race
The iconic Daytona International Speedway seats more than 100,000 spectators