William Byron takes victory at the Daytona 500 in the final laps!

William Byron gave team owner Rick Hendrick another reason to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports. The Charlotte native won Monday evening in the biggest race in NASCAR of the year, the Daytona 500, a race postponed for a day due to weather conditions. A victory achieved at the end of a Dantesque finale: the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet took the lead four laps from the finish, after yet another yellow flag involving around ten cars.

Under pressure until the passing of the white flag, signifying the start of the last lap, William Byron saw his victory validated by a final yellow flag occurring as he crossed the finish line for the penultimate time, when Ross Chastain slid wildly into the infield grass, crashing into the bumper of Austin Cindric's Ford.

Alex Bowman followed closely behind his teammate at the time of the yellow flag, giving Hendrick Motorsports a one-two finish in addition to the team's first victory since 2014. “I'm just a kid who, after racing on consoles, won the Daytona 500, said William Byron, 26, who scored the 11th victory of his career and his second at Daytona, the first coming in the summer 2020 race. I can not believe it. I wish my father was there. He's sick, but it's for him. We've been through so much, and we sat together in the stands watching the race (when Byron was younger). It's really cool. »

“I tell you, you couldn’t write a better script. When we first thought about coming here, we didn't think we should be here, we didn't feel like we belonged. We're winning this race on our 40th anniversary and we tied a record, so that's awesome. »

Daytona 500 – Standings

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