NASCAR News: Byron wins 2025 Daytona 500 crashfest

In NASCAR, if you ain’t wrecking, you ain’t racing and the Daytona 500 epitomizes the slogan “wrecking is racing.” It’s the same every year. Fans pay to watch the craziness, and the 2025 edition of the 500 paid off in spades for William Byron for the 2nd year in a row.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The seas parted from all the last crashing and Byron’s Hendrick Chevy emerged in front to cross the finish line in front of the Toyota quartet of Tyler Reddick, Jimmie Johnson, polesitter Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.

Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was leading with one lap to go as Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe were trying to move ahead of him.

But as Custer was on Hamlin’s right, Briscoe bumped the back of the No. 11 car, which ultimately led the three-time Daytona 500 winner to spin-out, hitting No. 2 Austin Cindric on his left in the process.

Byron went to the outside and snuck through unscathed. Byron led 10 laps to become the fifth driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s after languishing around in 11th place during most of the event around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there,” Byron said after climbing from his car. “I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom, and I was honestly going to go third (top) lane regardless, because I was probably sixth coming down the back.

“Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. But just really proud of this team. Worked super hard all week and had an amazing car. Just had a really hard time with the fuel saving and kind of staying towards the front.”

“Crazy. I can’t honestly believe that. But we’re here. So proud of it.

“It’s an amazing race, and obviously a lot of crazy racing out there tonight and just a lot of pushing and shoving,” said Byron, who picked up his third victory at the 2.5-mile superspeedway and the 14th of his career.

“But just really proud of our team. I can’t stress that enough. I’m just super thankful for this group and everything that they do in the offseason to get prepared. We plan on trying to win a lot of races this year, so we’re not going to stop here. We’re going to continue to push forward and try to get to Phoenix (in the Championship 4 race).”

“Frustration—you’re taking the white as the leader,” said Cindric, who qualified on the front row and won Thursday’s second Duel at Daytona race. “I felt like I executed all the restarts the right way and really that whole third stage. I didn’t get wrecked out of the lead this time, so that was cool, but it still doesn’t make it feel any better.

“Obviously, I don’t even know where we finished, but it was still a decent points weekend and an incredible showing by our team for the entirety of Speedweeks. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get this Discount Tire Ford Mustang in Victory Lane.”

Hamlin had just pulled ahead of Cindric on the backstretch when Custer made a move to the outside and then steered down the track toward Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, triggering the crash.

“I measured up the 2 (Cindric), and got a run on him,” Hamlin said. “I stayed with him long enough where I could kind of control which side I wanted to pass him on, and then we had pulled away from the pack slightly, so I knew a run was going to come.

“The 41 (Custer) had a run, and I chose not to block him because these races, you have to live to make it off of Turn 4, and we just didn’t.”

With so many wrecks, including a big one on the last lap of overtime, only a handful of cars were still running at the finish.

Six of the last eight Daytona 500 races have ended in overtime because of all the wrecks.

Drivers ran just nine green-flag laps from the start before rain interrupted the proceedings.

After a red-flag period that lasted 3 hours, 9 minutes, 59 seconds, drivers took to the track for a second time and ran another 12 laps under caution before a brief rainstorm halted the race for another 20 minutes, 29 seconds.

With Logano in the lead, the DAYTONA 500 resumed on Lap 24 and ran without incident until Lap 63 when the bottom lane checked up, and Zane Smith turned Hamlin’s Toyota on the backstretch.

Smith’s Ford slid up the track into the Ford of Josh Berry, seriously damaging that car. Smith took his car to the garage for attempted repairs, while Hamlin was able to continue without losing a lap.

Logano won the first stage under caution, but because of a problem with debris in the throttle body of his No. 22 Ford on the subsequent restart on Lap 71, Logano stacked up the top lane and ignited a seven-car melee in Turn 1. The accident eliminated the cars of Martin Truex Jr., Helio Castroneves and Ross Chastain.

Intense three-wide action throughout the race produced 56 lead changes among 15 drivers. Byron led five times for a total of 10 laps. There were eight cautions for 47 laps.

President Donald Trump also made an appearance at Daytona, leading the drivers on a lap before the race began. It’s the second time he’s attended the event, and applauded NASCAR’s drivers while speaking with FOX Sports’ Jamie Little.

“They have a lot of courage doing this,” Trump said. “I see it and I’ve been here. They have a lot of guts, as they would say.”

Daytona 500 winner William Byron Quotes

William Byron’s entire team is out here, your family just walked out. William, you were ninth with one lap to go. How did you come through the pack and avoid the chaos to make it two in a row at Daytona?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there. I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom and I was honestly going to go third lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back.

Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor. But just really proud of this team. Worked super hard all week and had an amazing car. Just had a really hard time with the fuel saving and kind of staying towards the front.

Crazy. I can’t honestly believe that. But we’re here. So proud of it.

You won this last year, and you know what a big moment it was. Can you describe what this race does for a driver, especially like yourself, and now to get to do it a second time, what does this race mean?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, it’s obviously really special. It’s an amazing race, and obviously a lot of crazy racing out there tonight and just a lot of pushing and shoving.

But just really proud of our team. I can’t stress that enough. I’m just super thankful for this group and everything that they do in the off-season to get prepared. We plan on trying to win a lot of races this year, so we’re not going to stop here. We’re going to continue to push forward and try to get to Phoenix.

2025 Daytona 500 Results

Average Speed of Race Winner:  129.159 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 53 Mins, 26 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .113 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  8 for 47 laps.

Lead Changes:  56 among 15 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe 1-4;T. Dillon 5-7;W. Byron 8-10;A. Cindric 11;W. Byron 12-15;M. McDowell 16-17;R. Blaney 18-21;J. Logano 22-30;W. Byron 31;*. LaJoie 32-34;J. Logano 35-39;C. Elliott 40-41;J. Logano 42-70;A. Bowman 71-74;R. Blaney 75-76;A. Cindric 77-78;R. Preece 79;N. Gragson 80;A. Cindric 81-89;M. McDowell 90;A. Cindric 91-93;M. McDowell 94;N. Gragson 95;A. Cindric 96;R. Preece 97-101;A. Bowman 102-105;A. Cindric 106-115;A. Bowman 116;A. Cindric 117-122;A. Bowman 123;A. Cindric 124;A. Bowman 125;A. Cindric 126-129;R. Blaney 130-132;C. Hocevar 133;R. Blaney 134-138;B. Wallace 139-141;R. Blaney 142;B. Wallace 143-145;R. Blaney 146-148;B. Wallace 149-152;R. Blaney 153-154;B. Wallace 155-156;R. Blaney 157;B. Wallace 158;W. Byron 159;R. Blaney 160;B. Wallace 161-163;A. Cindric 164;B. Wallace 165-166;A. Cindric 167-185;*. LaJoie 186-192;A. Cindric 193;D. Hamlin 194-199;A. Cindric 200;W. Byron 201;R. Blaney 202.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Austin Cindric 13 times for 59 laps; Joey Logano 3 times for 43 laps; Ryan Blaney 10 times for 23 laps; Bubba Wallace 7 times for 18 laps; Alex Bowman 5 times for 11 laps; William Byron 5 times for 10 laps; * Corey LaJoie 2 times for 10 laps; Ryan Preece 2 times for 6 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 6 laps; Michael McDowell 3 times for 4 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 4 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 3 laps; Noah Gragson 2 times for 2 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 2 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,6,12,47,20,99,48,45,43,24

Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,2,9,48,34,17,43,22,23,8