Rick Hendrick would not let himself believe his organization had won the Daytona 500 until one of his cars crossed under the checkered flag and NASCAR confirmed it.
William Byron was declared the winner of Monday night’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 with teammate Alex Bowman finishing second. NASCAR determined the winner using the timestamp of when the caution came out, along with video and photo footage.
But even more than the finish needing a review, Hendrick had been disappointed so many times in the last decade that he wouldn’t celebrate early. Byron’s victory was the first for Hendrick Motorsports in the Daytona 500 since 2014.
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“I guess it’s been a drought winning this race – we’ve led a lot of laps, and I just refused to get excited,” Hendrick said. “I was standing there when it was over wondering, ‘Did we win it? Was it one more lap? Did a caution catch us?’ When we were lined up, I thought we had a great shot.”
Byron chose the inside of the front row for the final restart alongside race leader Ross Chastain with four laps to go. Bowman was fourth, second in the outside lane. A third Hendrick Motorsports driver, Chase Elliott, restarted sixth.
With two laps to go, Byron led Austin Cindric and Corey LaJoie in a single-file line. Chastain began a charge in Turns 3 and 4 that brought him to Byron’s back bumper in the short chute leading to the trioval, but when Byron pulled up to block, Chastain went low and bounced off Austin Cindric, starting a multi-car crash. Byron was clear in the lead as Bowman charged to his outside but ran out of time when NASCAR called the caution.
The victory came 40 years to the day Rick Hendrick’s team, then called All-Star Racing, debuted in NASCAR. Geoff Bodine drove the No. 5 car to an eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500 on February 19, 1984.
“When I think back 40 years and coming down here and feeling like I didn’t belong, seeing Junior Johnson and the Pettys and Wood Brothers and man, here we were with five full-time people and no sponsor and finished in the top 10,” Hendrick recalled. “But to win this race – I guess since it’s been 10 years – I forgot how thrilling it really is because the disappointment of coming off of (Turn) 4, leading, and getting crashed.
“It’s hard to put into words how I feel about NASCAR the sport and being able to participate in it, and now tying the all-time record for wins here in the (Daytona) 500. I think it’s going to sink in next week a little bit more.
“I’m in awe of how hard it is to win this race. I’m just so happy for William and Rudy [Fugle] and the whole organization. And to see Alex finish second that was great.”
Hendrick Motorsports tied Petty Enterprises for the most Daytona 500 wins by an organization at nine. A Hendrick driver won the race in 1986 (Bodine), 1989 (Darrell Waltrip), 1997, 1999, 2005 (Jeff Gordon), 2006, 2013 (Jimmie Johnson), 2014 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), and 2024 (Byron).