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William Byron survived final lap chaos, driving through a crash that claimed the top three and others then outlasting Tyler Reddick to the start-finish line to repeat as Daytona 500 champion on Sunday.
Byron was ninth at the white flag, then surged a bit on the outside lane through turns 1 and 2. But Cole Custer was turned down the backstretch, claiming leaders Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin who were side-by-side for the lead, plus several others.
Byron, Reddick, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek emerged from the smoke and debris, with Byron ahead of Reddick and the others trailing well behind. NASCAR didn’t throw the caution flag, and Byron held off Reddick all the way to the line for his second Daytona 500 victory.
Sunday’s race was impacted by three red flags — a 3-hour, 9-minute rain delay, a much-shorter weather delay and a delay to clean up after a major crash that saw Ryan Preece ride on two tires for hundreds of yards before flipping over.
And after all that, Byron gets another Daytona 500 win in a very eventful Sunday at the 2.5-mile oval on the Florida coast.
Here are the winners and losers for Sunday’s Daytona 500:
DAYTONA 500 RESULTS: Who won NASCAR Daytona 500 Cup race? Winner is William Byron, plus full results
NASCAR Daytona 500 winners and losers
Winner: William Byron’s fortune at Daytona 500
Two years in a row, William Byron was in the right place at the right time and benefitted from the carnage that is often a characteristic of late-race action at Daytona.
Last year, Byron led an unsettled pack that had just taken the white flag when a crash on the front stretch ended the race.
This year, Byron was the only driver in the top eight in the running order that was not involved in the final-lap crash that opened the door for victory.
Modern-day NASCAR is so much about being in the right place in the right time, and Byron has benefitted twice in a year’s time in the biggest race of the year.
Winner: Team Penske
Roger Penske won’t leave Daytona with the Daytona 500 trophy, but his cars were dominant for the first 450 miles or more. Joey Logano won Stage 1 while Ryan Blaney won Stage 2 by passing teammate Austin Cindric on the final lap of the stage.
Blaney and Logano’s chances to win ended when Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s ineffective block produced a multi-car crash on Lap 186. Stenhouse and Logano were in the top 10, and Logano didn’t allow Stenhouse to cleanly block, creating the incident that took out Blaney.
Cindric’s chance to win also ended early, as he was caught up in the final-lap crash with Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer and others while battling for the lead.
Penske cars led 125 of the 202 laps, and Blaney (seventh) and Cindric (eighth) did manage top-10 finishes.
While not winning the race is notable, Penske has established itself as the top pack-racing team. As the end of these races often seem like a product of luck, maybe the Team Penske Fords will find better luck in the next pack-racing track next week at Atlanta.
Winner: NASCAR on FOX
Say what you might about the current race broadcast booth, but FOX stayed on for coverage at the Daytona 500 for more than 10 hours on Sunday. That included more than two hours of prerace coverage, a 3-hour red flag weather delay, another shorter rain delay and the full race.
Not every TV broadcast partner in NASCAR’s history would have kept a broadcast on its network channel for that long. Yes, the Daytona 500 is the most-watched race of the season. But kudos to FOX on Sunday.
Honorable mention: Jimmie Johnson, NASCAR for not throwing the caution flag on the final lap, Justin Allgaier’s top-10 for JR Motorsports
Losers: Helio Castroneves and Martin Truex Jr.
Helio Castroneves and Martin Truex Jr. both crashed out of the Daytona 500 on Lap 71 during the restart to start Stage 2.
Joey Logano misfired as the leader on the outside lane, and the accordion produced a nine-car crash that involved Castroneves, Truex, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain and others.
Truex and Castroneves both were done for the day, with Castroneves suffering rear-end damage and Truex going to the garage with an oil issue.
Castroneves, the four-time Indy 500 champion, experienced multiple crashes across three races at Daytona, including a crash in Thursday’s duel, multiple incidents in the ARCA race Saturday and the crash in Sunday’s 500. Given he utilized the new OEP to get into the race, his weekend ended in a whimper.
Meanwhile, Truex told media members after the wreck that he would like to run the Daytona 500 again. But his recent track record at Daytona has been a series of wrecks and poor finishes.
Loser: Kyle Busch
0-for-20. Busch was in both multi-car incidents in the first 186 laps of the race, with the second crash (the one involving Stenhouse and the Penske cars) knocking him out of the race for good.
Yeah, it seems like Busch has a permanent place in the loser’s column of The Tennessean’s weekly exercise, but his Daytona 500 0-for streak is notable. He’s had 20 Daytona 500 races and no trophy to take home.
Loser: Denny Hamlin
Hamlin played the race perfectly, surging to the front in the final stage while avoiding at least two multi-car crashes in the final 20 laps. He was side-by-side with Cindric on the final lap before being taken out by contact behind him, finishing 24th unofficially.
In his FOX interview, viewers could hear Hamlin’s bitter disappointment. There was history to be made on Sunday; Hamlin is a three-time Daytona 500 champion and a fourth would have tied him with Cale Yarborough for second on the all-time 500 winners list. At his age, Hamlin has to have legacy on the mind. Who knows how many more times he’ll have to be at the front on the final lap of the Daytona 500.
Honorable mention: Joey Logano for finishing outside top 30 with best car, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece for another harrowing Daytona flip
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Daytona 500 winners and losers: Helio Castroneves crashes, Penske dominates
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