By CJ Carlson
The 2024 NASCAR season kicked off with the Daytona 500 and it started off with a bang. Originally scheduled to take place on a Sunday, a rain delay pushed it back to Monday afternoon. Regardless, it still wound up being a wonderful time.
William Bryon was the biggest winner, as he wound up winning the Daytona 500. This was the first time that he’d ever been able to do so in his career. It was also his 11th career race in NASCAR, and first big win since September of 2023 when he competed at Texas Motor Speedway. The rest of the competition saw Alex Bowman finish second, Christopher Bell in third, Corey LaJoie in fourth, Bubba Wallace in fifth, A.J. Allmendinger in sixth, John Hunter Nemechek in seventh, Erik Jones in eighth, Noah Gragson in ninth, and Chase Briscoe in 10th.
A Couple Of Wrecks At The Daytona 500
There were a few crashes as well. During the fifth lap, Harrison Burton took a hit from John Hunter Nemechek after he got bumped by Brad Keselowski. A couple of other cars were involved as well. Burton took the brunt of the damage there. However, with eight laps remaining in the race, a far bigger collision took place. A collision that involved 18 total cars, including drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano.
Speaking of Logano, his involvement was the most devastating. He had led for a race-high 45 laps before this crash happened. Fast forward until the moment when the white flag was waved, and a different wreck took place. After some thought, it was believed that the lap was already completed at the time of the wreck, so Byron was given the win under caution.
It wasn’t just a big day for Byron either though, as Hendrick Motorsports finally gets back on the board at the Daytona 500. Before this week, Hendrick Motorsports hadn’t been able to win a Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt Jr did it back in 2014. It’s safe to say that it’s been some time, and they’re thankful to be back on top.
