Breaking It Down: William Byron Makes Hendrick History with Daytona 500 Win
William Byron was able to stick his nose to the front in a chaotic and uncertain Daytona 500 finish revolving around an incident with Ross Chastain and 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric to win the “Great American Race” in a yellow-white-checkered finish.
In Hendrick Motorsports' 40th anniversary season, this win -- which came on the exact date of Team Hendrick's 40th anniversary of its first-ever start at Daytona in the Great American Race -- gives team owner Rick Hendrick and now vice chairman Jeff Gordon the team’s 9th Daytona 500 victory, tying Petty Enterprises for the most wins in the race’s history, three of them coming from Gordon’s #24, which Bryon now pilots.
For Willy B, this is his second Daytona victory, grabbing a regular season finale win back in 2020 for HMS, but he has since struggled in five of his last six tries at the speedway, picking up just one top ten in the summer race last season.
Although the 500 win for Hendrick and Byron will be the story of the night, and which gives Byron a free pass into the 10-race playoffs later this year, the lead-up to seeing Bryon grab the win came at a price for some, making the race interesting, especially late.
Daytona Demolition Derby
While the race wasn’t filled with cautions, only fielding three true incident-related yellows, the three that came out were major points in the race that led to the way the finish resulted.
In the early laps of the 500, the No. 42 Legacy Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Brad Keselowski, resulting in a chain reaction at the start-finish line, causing seven cars to be involved, including Carson Hocevar, who started 9th in Spire Motorsports' No. 77, and the No. 3 of former 500 champion Austin Dillon and the No. 84 of two-time 500 winner Jimmie Johnson.
Officially, the No. 36 of Kaz Grala, No. 21 of Harrison Burton, and No. 77 of Hocevar would all retire from the race following that incident.
The race would stay relatively clean for the remainder of the race up until the final few laps of Stage 2 with some dicey movement coming, and at the beginning of Stage 3.
The real chaos would ensue with about 10 laps left when Byron would ironically get loose, resulting in a major incident that caused Keselowski to turn left and swing up the race track, seeing 22 cars -- according to NASCAR -- get involved in the massive wreck, shuffling up the field, and creating what was an interesting finish for the 500.
Some major players got caught up in the incident, including Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, defending Cup champion Ryan Blaney, 2023 Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick and others.
Byron would be able to make it out, and by avoiding major damage in the self-inflicted incident, the No. 24 was able to keep running, which gave Byron a great position on the restart.
While these wrecks came at opposite ends of the spectrum in the race, the incidents took out some key teams who were strong all day long and allowed for Team Hendrick, who managed to see all four of its cars escape the carnage, to be up towards the front, featuring Byron, Chase Elliot, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson all in great position to win the race.
The Hendrick Hot Streak?
While it is hard not to keep Team Hendrick in the center of attention, this win for the team and William Byron brings excitement for what’s to come this season for the storied team.
Yes, the Daytona 500 and any superspeedway race for teams can be an unrealistic look as to how a season will go or even the future will be for a team, but this win for Willy B. and Team Hendrick may be the spark of another championship season for the organization and the No. 24, which Jeff Gordon won to four Cup championships in his own racing career before turning the keys over to Byron several years ago.
Ever since Gordon moved back to Team Hendrick after a brief foray as a color analyst for NASCAR telecasts on Fox Sports three years ago, becoming the team’s vice chairman, there has always been a wonder as to when Rick Hendrick may give the reigns to his longtime driver-turned-partner.
But, with everything going for the man they call "Boss Man," it is hard for Hendrick, who turns 75 on July 12, not to want to stay at the top of the totem pole with the organization.
Last season, Byron was one of the shining points for the team, grabbing six wins for the nine-time Daytona 500 champions and bringing success to this rebooted Hendrick stable. But now with the 500 victory, the question will be if he can bring home the third NASCAR Cup championship to Hendrick in the past five seasons.
Byron is definitely starting off on the right foot. However, the last time we have seen a Daytona 500 winner win the Cup Series championship was none other than former fellow Hendrick counterpart Jimmie Johnson (2006, as well as 2013 in a year he did not win the championship), making the team no stranger to doubling up in a season.
Not to mention, with the Daytona 500 win for Rick Hendrick, there is the potential for him to have a Daytona 500 and Indy 500 winner in his fleet, with Kyle Larson hoping to be the first NASCAR Cup driver to attempt "The Double" -- racing in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day on Memorial Day Weekend in May -- for the first time in nearly a decade.
The future to come for Hendrick and the season that could be in year No. 40 may pass all others for the legendary owner.
Final Thoughts
In what was a wild finish to the Daytona 500, with still many fuzzy on the finish, it already begins to create intrigue for this coming weekend's superspeedway repeat in Atlanta.
It had been 10 years since Hendrick won the 500 (2014, Dale Earnhardt Jr.), and now, with a busy season, the history that can be created for the team is bar none.
Byron has always been a strong driver, especially on superspeedways, and coming off a career season last year for himself and the team, there will be a lot of eyes looking towards this camp as we navigate through the 2024 season.
It is truly fitting that No. 24 grabs the first true win in 2024, and maybe it is Byron’s year to bloom for the now-turned veteran.