One more trip around the track before NASCAR goes to Atlanta: Daytona 500 winners & losers
With the conclusion of the 66th annual Daytona 500, we have some winners and losers to discuss. After an exciting Monday afternoon race, with just three yellow flags, and disregarding stage breaks, this year's Great American Race provided a clean race -- for the most part, by Daytona standards, that is -- and a new winner. But there also was controversy, with even more confusion on how these races end.
Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers of the 2024 Daytona 500.
Winner: William Byron
Of course, the winner of the 66th Daytona 500 would be at the top of this list. Byron wins his first-ever Daytona 500, as well as the 302nd NASCAR Cup race win for Hendrick Motorsports. After hanging around the front all day, and avoiding damage in the late stage 3 wreck, Byron placed himself in the outside lane in front of teammate Alex Bowman, avoiding the wreck happening in the tri-oval in the bottom lane. Bowman attempted to pass the 24 car before the yellow flag fell, but ultimately it was determined that Byron had the lead when the yellow came out.
Byron, who had a career year last year, begins 2024 with a win that locks him into the playoffs, but more importantly, will forever be memorialized on the coveted Harley J. Earl trophy. Byron looks to build on 2023 where he made the Championship 4, and with the Daytona 500 win on his resume now, his focus can be all about acquiring as many playoff points as he can. A Daytona 500 win for a kid who started out by playing video racing games is not too bad!
Loser: Mother Nature
Unfortunately, the only on-track action we got during the weekend was the Xfinity Series qualifying. That didn't stop the fans from showing up on Monday for both the Cup and Xfinity Series, with perhaps the largest crowd for a Monday race we have seen.
It's hard to predict Mother Nature, but NASCAR did a great job of being quick on decisions the entire weekend. By having the Daytona 500 on a Monday afternoon, it may have lost some of its spectacle, but, all credit goes to the fans who never stopped supporting and showed up on Monday. Daytona International Speedway also did a great job at providing the fans with the most quality weekend they could have despite the weather, by honoring tickets for multiple series.
Winner: Toyota
The debut of a new body could not have gone any better for Toyota. After a very weak single-car qualifying, the Toyotas won both duels with Tyler Reddick winning Duel 1, and Christopher Bell winning Duel 2. It didn't stop there. Toyota drivers were often in the front, and in terms of points taken from the weekend, the points per driver were the highest. Both Bell and Bubba Wallace finished in the top 5, with John Hunter Nemechek getting a 7th-place finish. JGR's rides all finished in the top 20, as well as Erik Jones finishing in 8th. A fantastic start for Legacy Motorclub's and Toyota's partnership.
Loser: The Fords
With a winning manufacturer, comes a losing one. This time around, it's the blue oval of Ford. It's not like the Ford's weren't fast; they certainly were. But Ford missed out in terms of finishing position. Ford also failed to win a duel, something that hasn't happened since 2017. Ford was unfortunately involved in both wrecks. Harrison Burton, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and defending NASCAR Cup champ Ryan Blaney were all taken out by wrecks, all of which were in the front of the field at the time of the wreck.
It's not like Ford lacked speed. As mentioned, all those Ford's were either leading the race at a point or were often in the first few rows at any given point. The lack of finishing the race really hurt the Fords in the end, especially Team Penske, with 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric losing out on the final wreck as well. Ford missed out on potentially over 100 points due to the final wreck, which makes them losers for the weekend.
Winner: Noah Gragson
Not all the Ford's disappointed! In Gragson's return to NASCAR, he quietly crossed the finish line in 9th place. While he avoided wrecks to get this position, that doesn't take away the fact that Gragson ran a clean 500 miles -- well 497.5 miles and positioned his debut with Stewart Haas Racing in the top 10. Gragson will look to build on this result with another superspeedway next on the calendar this weekend in Atlanta, and was one of the few bright spots for Ford this weekend.
Loser: Fuel Saving Strategy
One of the takeaways from the Daytona 500 was the lack of urgency and full-throttle racing we saw. During most of the race, drivers reported using just 60-70% of throttle. Now, that's not unheard of in superspeedway races. Most times drivers are off the throttle to avoid running into the bumper of the car in front, or they check up.
This race was different though. Drivers were using just 60-70% throttle for almost the entire race. There was a point where a single car was lapping faster than the drivers in the pack. Years ago that single car would be 3 or 4 seconds slower per lap. In fact, this has become such an issue that NASCAR itself is looking into how to fix it, if it can be fixed.
NASCAR is taking a deeper dive into examining fuel-saving strategies. Fuel saving has become the main strategy at superspeedways with this new car, and NASCAR wants drivers racing at 100% from green to checkered.
Winner: Hendrick Motorsports
HMS enjoyed quite the Daytona 500. Of course, Byron winning the race was the highlight, but Bowman finishing second comes with a large pool of points as well. Chase Elliott who sat down with AutoRacingDigest.com to discuss his goals for 2024, started off the year in great fashion by racing in the front all day and finishing 14th.
Kyle Larson also raced in the front all day and came home 11th. There were probably two teams who raced at the front consistently. Those were Team Penske and Team Hendrick. The difference? HMS drivers brought it home. A fantastic Daytona 500 for the entire team, highlighted by Byron's win.
Loser: More Confusion on Superspeedway Endings
Another highlight of the weekend, or should we say lowlight, was how the Daytona 500 concluded. Just like earlier in the year with the Rolex 24, the Daytona 500 was well ... maybe it should be unofficially renamed the Daytona 497.5?
Much confusion was caused due to the end of that race. The race-ending wreck happened on the penultimate lap, but due to the yellow not coming out until the leaders passed the start/finish line, which means they took the white, that caution ended up concluding the race.
The issue many fans have is that the wreck happened on the tri-oval and if the officials were quicker to throw the yellow, we would have had overtime. Another issue came with Byron and Bowman finishing side by side. On the aerial view, Byron was just ahead of Bowman when the yellow came out, yet on track, the yellow came out when Bowman had the lead.
The whole process has been inconsistent throughout the years, which was changed for safety, but the lack of consistent calls with the yellow is starting to become a concern for fans. Due to the conclusion of this race, I believe fans are starting to question what they should expect. Will the same call be taken this weekend in Atlanta if we have the same situation? We guess only time will tell.