William Byron’s Qualifying run:
Hendrick Motorsports prides itself in earning the front two spots for the Daytona 500. Since 2015, A Hendrick-powered Chevrolet has started on the front row, a reign of dominance, but only once won. There’s a clear trade-off between winning the pole and winning the race. If you win the pole, it seems you don’t have a good shot at winning the race.
Hendrick’s reign of dominance ended last week, with a Ford front-row lockout out with Joey Logano and Michael McDowell starting first and second. Hendrick Motorsports’ highest qualifier would be Kyle Larson in third. Chase Elliott would qualify fifth, Byron in sixth, and three-time pole winner Alex Bowman starting in seventeenth.
With Daytona’s duel races setting the lineup, Hendrick engines would rocket the four cars towards the front of the starting grid. In Duel 1, Elliott and Bowman would finish second and third, as Tyler Reddick’s last-lap charge to the lead was too much to counter. Larson would be the lowest finisher from Hendrick, in ninth.
In Duel 2, Byron would cause some trouble, with a big push from Brad Keselowski would send Ryan Blaney and several others spinning and wrecking. Byron would avoid a wreck and finish eighth. The starting order for Hendrick in the Daytona 500 would be Elliott in fifth, Bowman in seventh, and Larson and Byron in 17th and 18th.
Race Day:
After rain delayed the Daytona 500 to Monday, a weekend of rain opened up for blue skies and a beautiful Florida day. The Fords led the field to the green, and calamity struck on lap six. Nemechek would make contact with the #21 Ford of Harrison Burton, and collect five other cars. This early caution would begin some fuel saving amongst the drivers, trying to pit the latest to inherit the lead of the race later on.
Stage one would end with Chase Elliott and the three other Hendrick cars solidly inside the top ten. Stage two would be uneventful with the entirety of it staying green.
Towards the end of the race would be when chaos struck. The #24 would tag the right rear of Keselowski’s Ford. The contact would create a twenty-three-car wreck with nine to go. Byron and the Hendrick cars would make it through with little to no damage. Byron would take the lead from Ross Chastain with four laps to go. Austin Cindric would wreck with Chastain at the start-finish line on the white flag lap, ending the race.