William Byron found himself way behind in the final restart at Daytona International Speedway Sunday night, but it turned out to be a right-place, right-time moment.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver made a white-flag run with a melee unfolding in front of him in a two-lap overtime dash, stunning NASCAR Cup Series fans and also recording his second straight season-opening Daytona 500 victory in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Running ninth as the overtime started at high-banked Daytona International Speedway, Byron went high in his No. 24 Chevrolet and avoided a backstretch wreck between leader Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer and others in the low lane.
Byron recorded his 14th career victory and produced the 10th win at the 500 for Hendrick Motorsports, breaking a tie with Petty Motorsports.
“Obviously, some good fortune, but I trusted my instinct on the last lap there,” said Byron, who led four Toyotas to the checkers. “I felt they were getting squirrely on the bottom. I was going (high) lane regardless because I was sixth coming down the back. I was fortunate and it worked out in our favor.
“Crazy. I can’t honestly believe that.”
Tyler Reddick was second followed by seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.
Hamlin, who finished 24th, felt Custer’s No. 41 Ford came down on him too soon.
“The 41 had a run, and I chose not to block him,” the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “In these races, you’ve got to live to make it off Turn 4, but we didn’t. I thought the 41 came down. I’m pushing (Cindric) down as low as I can and giving the 41 all the space and not stopping his run. I thought he steered left.
“In those situations, we’ve got to get off 4, then we can do this.”
In the 67th version of NASCAR’s “Great American Race,” top qualifier Briscoe, Byron and Ty Dillon took turns leading the pack, but rain brought out the 200-lap race’s first caution on Lap 10.
After waiting out a nearly four-hour rain delay, the 41-car field resumed under the lights with reigning series champ Joey Logano showing the point for 43 of the Stage 1 circuits.
His No. 22 Ford received some help when fellow blue-oval drivers Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney lined up behind, with the trio finishing in that order after Zane Smith and Josh Berry collided.
The first major incident occurred on the Lap 71 restart when leader Logano failed to get up to speed, causing a chain reaction that affected 10 cars throughout the field and ended with Ross Chastain being turned into Helio Castroneves, plus Briscoe, Kyle Busch and others sliding into the grass.
Cindric’s No. 2 Ford moved to the front before the 250-mile mark, but Blaney got a strong push from Chase Elliott in the second segment to notch his fourth Daytona 500 stage win.
With 15 laps to go, the seventh caution was triggered at fourth place when Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. squeezed together and wrecked, starting a mess that ended chances at victory for Blaney, Busch, Keselowski and Elliott.
After second-place Christopher Bell hit the wall hard with five laps to go, his No. 20 Toyota smacked Ryan Preece, who got airborne for the second time in his career at Daytona, and his No. 60 Ford bounced down the backstretch.
–Field Level Media
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