Hendrick Motorsports returned to Daytona 500 victory lane after a late wreck, a 15-minute red flag and an instant replay review.
The 2024 Daytona 500 was the 66th edition of the race and began the NASCAR Cup calendar that year. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron came out on top after a 23-car wreck, a red flag and a replay review.
William Byron won the 2024 Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports, with Alex Bowman second and Christopher Bell third. The race was the 66th running of the event and the opener of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign. It ran on Monday, 19 February 2024, after rain forced a postponement from the Sunday, and it finished under caution with Byron confirmed as the leader.
What is the Daytona 500 race track like?
Daytona International Speedway is one of three NASCAR superspeedways, alongside Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. This layout is a four-turn circuit 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. Its turns are banked at 31 degrees, and the front stretch, where the finish line sits, is banked at 18 degrees.
Those high banks let cars run flat out in tight packs. The draft does most of the passing, which is why the race is so often decided by who is positioned correctly on the final restarts rather than by outright speed.
A 23-car wreck and an instant replay review decided the 2024 Daytona 500 in the final minutes.
Who won the 2024 Daytona 500?
William Byron took the win, Alex Bowman finished second and Christopher Bell third. Corey LaJoie was fourth and Bubba Wallace fifth. The victory was Hendrick's first Daytona 500 win since 2014, and it came 40 years after the team first raced in NASCAR at the 1984 Daytona 500.
The No. 24 car had not been in Daytona 500 victory lane since Jeff Gordon won in 2005. Byron's result ended that long gap, and it gave the organisation a notable anniversary to mark on the same weekend.
How did qualifying and practice set the field?
Joey Logano won the pole with a time of 49.465 seconds, at 181.947 mph (292.815 km/h). McDowell qualified second and sat beside him on the front row. Anthony Alfredo and David Ragan were the two open cars that made the field through qualifying.
Denny Hamlin was fastest in the first practice at 45.575 seconds, or 197.477 mph (317.808 km/h). The final practice was cancelled because of weather conditions. The Bluegreen Vacations Duels, two races of 60 laps and 150 miles (240 km) each, set the lineup for positions 3 to 38, and positions 39 and 40 went to the two fastest non-qualifying open cars.
How did the opening stage play out?
Stage one lasted 65 laps. Logano led the first lap alongside McDowell, and the first caution came on lap 5 for a multi-car crash. Brad Keselowski hit John Hunter Nemechek at the wrong angle, and Nemechek was turned down into Harrison Burton. Burton spun in front of Carson Hocevar, and all three drivers ended their races.
Christopher Bell led the restart on lap 12 without pitting, and he traded the lead with Ryan Blaney for several laps. Blaney took it on lap 31, and Logano moved ahead on lap 40 when he and others pitted. Chase Elliott took the lead on the last lap of the stage and won it on lap 65.
What changed in the middle stage?
The race was run in three stages of 65, 65 and 70 laps. Stage two began with Kyle Larson leading the field to the lap 71 restart, and Logano took the lead the next lap. Todd Gilliland passed Logano on lap 93, and Kyle Busch took over on lap 109.
Austin Cindric took the lead on lap 118, and Busch and Cindric swapped the front spot through the middle laps. Ryan Blaney won stage two on lap 130, passing Cindric in turns three and four on the final lap of the stage.
Why did the final stage matter?
The final stage lasted 70 laps, and the result turned on a sequence of pit stops and tactical choices. Cindric won the restart off pit road and led on lap 137. A. J. Allmendinger took the lead on lap 140, and the lead changed hands repeatedly after that, with Corey LaJoie and Hamlin both in front before the end.
The final scheduled pit stops came on lap 178, when most Toyota teams pitted and Hamlin did not. On lap 179 Hamlin, Haley and Busch stopped as a group, drawn from three different manufacturers. Ford teams pitted on lap 181, and Ross Chastain's Chevrolet took the lead once the Fords had stopped. During one stop Kyle Busch's car left its pit box with the left front wheel insecure, but the wheel stayed on.
Chastain led a group of Chevrolets through the final stop on lap 182, and his stronger pack held the advantage. Once the packs merged, the bump drafting turned into slam drafting, with cars pushing hard to build momentum. Defending champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led on lap 186 before Daniel Suarez passed him.
How did the wreck and red flag change the finish?
On lap 192 the aggression on the backstretch boiled over. Keselowski and Logano tried to slingshot past Chastain on the outside, and Alex Bowman pushed William Byron into the middle lane. Byron was shoved into Keselowski on the inside, and Keselowski was turned across the entire pack.
The wreck collected 23 cars, including Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. The red flag lasted 15 minutes and 27 seconds before the cars were cleared. The race restarted with four laps to go, with Chastain leading.
How was the winner decided?
Byron and Chastain fought side by side for the lead in the closing laps. Byron led until two laps to go, when Chastain took the lead coming to the tri-oval. Chastain then turned down in front of Austin Cindric near the finish, and both cars spun through the tri-oval before the caution was shown.
Byron crossed the line to start lap 200, which signalled that the race would end on that lap. Cindric slid up, and NASCAR threw the fifth caution to finish the race. Because Byron and Bowman were side by side at that moment, instant replay was used to decide the leader, and two minutes later NASCAR declared Byron the winner.
Race summary: leading finishers
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports; first Daytona 500 win for the team since 2014 |
| Second | Alex Bowman | Side by side with Byron when the caution flew |
| Third | Christopher Bell | Completed the top three |
| Fourth | Corey LaJoie | Among the top five at the finish |
| Fifth | Bubba Wallace | Rounded out the top five |
What were the race statistics?
- 41 lead changes among 20 different drivers
- 5 cautions covering 18 laps
- One red flag lasting fifteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds
- Race time of three hours, ten minutes and fifty-two seconds
- Average speed of 157.178 mph (252.953 km/h)
Where could fans watch and listen?
Fox has carried the Daytona 500 since 2001, except in 2002, 2004 and 2006. The booth featured Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick, with Larry McReynolds, a winning crew chief in 1992 and 1998, providing insight on site. Pit road duties for the TV side fell to Jamie Little, Regan Smith and Josh Sims. In Canada, CTV aired the race for the first time since 1996.
The Motor Racing Network has covered the Daytona 500 on radio since 1970, and its broadcast was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Rusty Wallace, the 1989 Cup champion, joined Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle in the radio booth, while Dave Moody called the field from the Sunoco tower.
