Feb. 16 (UPI) — Defending champion William Byron won Sunday’s Daytona 500, making the 27-year-old the first back-to-back winner of the first race in half a decade.
Byron won despite being in seventh place with less than a lap remaining, but a wreck saw the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports #24 car come out ahead of the pack and claim the Harley J. Earl Trophy.
“It’s obviously really special,” Byron told Fox Sports from the track about the importance of the win. “It’s an amazing race. Obviously, a lot of crazy racing out there tonight, and just a lot of pushing and shoving.”
Tyler Reddick finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.
Of the so-called Top 5 drivers with high hopes to win, only Ryan Blaney finished in the top 10. Chase Elliott finished 15th, Kyle Larson finished 20th, Kyle Busch finished 34th and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano finished 35th.
The deciding wreck on the last lap wasn’t the only one during the race. On lap 196, cars collided and Ryan Preece was sent tunk over hood for his second time being flipped at Daytona.
NASCAR later announced that Preece had been evaluated and released from the infield care center.
Christopher Bell, who was involved in the crash, was also confirmed to have been released after being checked out.
The 200-lap race began at 2:30 p.m. EST, but was halted by rain before being restarted
President Donald Trump made an appearance, and led the drivers on a few laps of the 2.5-mile tri-oval track.
#Defending #champ #William #Byron #wins #Daytona
Leave a Reply