William Byron held off a hard charging pack in overtime to score his first NASCAR Cup Series win and securing his berth into the NASCAR Playoffs Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
With two laps to go, Byron shoved his way through the lead trio of Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace – pushing between Logano and Wallace, cutting down a tire on Logano’s car and triggering a multi-car crash behind him.
Byron was able to make it through the melee, and took the lead on the overtime restart with a huge push from Clint Bowyer.
Byron was able to get away on the final lap as the pack battled for position behind him, and ran largely unchallenged to the checkered flag.
“I’m just extremely blessed, and this is incredible,” said Byron. “It’s been a hard couple of years in the Cup Series and trying to get my first win and gel with this team. These guys did an awesome job today and got us in the Playoffs and it’s amazing.”
It’s the first win for the Charlotte, North Carolina driver in 98 NASCAR Cup Series starts in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. It also marks the first win for a car carrying the No. 24 in series history not driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.
The win also locks Byron into the NASCAR Playoffs, which was in question coming into the night.
“This is probably the hardest track to points-race. We had a great Stage 2 and kind of got back in the pack and got shuffled when everyone went single file. I thought my hopes were up there. And we were racing around the No. 21 (Matt DiBenedetto) and the No. 48 (Johnson) in the final stage and I was like man, I’ve got to really make something happen. Luckily, I was able to push the No. 43 (Wallace) and he and the No. 22 (Logano) made some contact and opened up a hole for me, and I wasn’t going to lift. It was awesome.”
But the move that put Byron in position to get that first win triggered the accident that took the chance to compete for a championship for the last time away from his teammate, Jimmie Johnson.
Johnson was caught up in the melee that broke out when Byron shoved his way to the front. It left Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet heavily damaged, but his team was able to make repairs enough to finish the race. But it wasn’t enough to make the cut for the seven-time champion, who missed by six points with a 17th place finish.
“First and foremost, congratulations to my teammate getting his first Cup win like that,” said Johnson. “This setting and the drama to go with it – that’s a big win for Chad Knaus and William Byron. I’m really happy for those guys. I really felt like we had a way to transfer, to win, or point our way in the way it went in the first two stages. Things just got ugly down in turn one. Unfortunate, but that’s plate racing.”
While Johnson missed out, Clint Bowyer and Matt DiBenedetto joined Byron in making the cut. Byron made it with his win, while Bowyer locked his berth up earlier in the night and DiBenedetto made it with an unofficial 12th place finish.
They join Kevin Harvick, Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Logano, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch in the Round of 16. The Playoffs kick off next weekend in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
The late race crash also sidelined Joey Logano, who won both of the earlier race segments and had led 36 laps, the most on the night.
“It’s just superspeedway racing. It gets so intense at the end and everyone is pushing so hard,” said Logano, who was credited with a 27th place finish. “It’s one of those situations you’re so close to the front you’ve got to stay in it and keep going for it and try to get the lead. I got a good run off the top side. We had the 43 (Wallace) pushing enough to clear the 11 (Hamlin) and I knew I could do that, which we did. I was hoping I could get back up in front of the 43, which we did and then the 11 got me just off-centered a little bit. It’s no one’s fault, it’s just superspeedway racing. It’s hard pushing and it got me in the right-rear and turned me to the right and ran me into Bubba and that cut down my right-rear tire by the time I got to turn one and you can’t control it and spun out in front of the whole field.”
The late race crash was the second of two multi-car crashes on the night that resulted in red flags being thrown to allow for clean up.
The first occurred on lap 153 when Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch made contact while racing for the lead. Reddick had just made the pass to move to the point, and moved up to block Kyle Busch. But the two made contact, sending both into the outside wall. Reddick was able to get away with little damage, but behind him Busch gathered up his brother, Kurt Busch, along at least six other cars.
The crash left Kyle Busch’s car heavily damaged, relegating him to a 33rd place finish in the garage. It also continues his 2020 win drought after leading 31 laps on the night – second only to Logano.
“Reddick threw it off into three and might have been clear, but wasn’t clear by much and started coming up the track and was losing momentum,” Kyle Busch said. “I even had to check-up because I saw him coming and it wasn’t enough check-up and wrecked the field. I hate it for all my Interstate Batteries guys. They’ve worked so hard this year and done a great job. We put ourselves in a great spot again tonight and had a fast race car, a good driving race car and was just hoping we could maintain that position for the rest of the day and get a win, that’s what we’re trying to look for. Thought we had a shot to do that.
“Still 2020.”
Among those gathered up was Ryan Newman, making his first start on Daytona’s 2.5-mile oval layout since a horrific crash at the end of February’s Daytona 500 that left him hospitalized with a head injury.
“The 8 car (Reddick) obviously just ran out of talent,” Newman said. “It seems like you can win a couple of Xfinity championships and still stick your head where the sun don’t shine when the time comes right. I’m just disappointed. It was kind of an average race sitting there waiting with our Guaranteed Rate Ford and never got a chance to show how good a car we had.”
Reddick would be sidelined in the final big crash of the night. He shouldered the blame for the earlier crash when he spoke to reporters afterwards.
“I tried to make a move for the lead with about eight laps to go, and it didn’t work out like I planned,” Reddick said. “It unfortunately hurt our car and chance to win. I was clear for about a second when I went to make it, but it’s Daytona and things change quickly. There weren’t a lot laps left at that time, and you have to do what you can to try to win to make the Playoffs.”
While Byron drove to the win, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, made his way through the scrum to finish in second.
“It was pretty wild from my seat. I was surprised it took us as long as it did to wreck, for sure,” Elliott said. “But I’m really proud of our Hooters team. I feel like we had faster Chevrolet’s than we’ve had in the last couple of trips, which was good. It didn’t drive as good as I think it probably should have, but I do think we were better by a pretty large margin, so that was nice.
“Congratulations to William – getting your first win is something he’ll never forget and that’s a really special moment for him. He’s worked really hard for that.”
Hamlin came home in third, with Truex, Jr. in fourth and Wallace in fifth.
Blaney was sixth, with Bowman seventh, and Brendan Gaughan – in his final career series start – in eighth. Chris Buescher and Keselowski rounded out the top 10.
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
Coke Zero Sugar 400 – August 29, 2020
1. (6) William Byron, Chevrolet, 164.
2. (27) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 164.
3. (10) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 164.
4. (2) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 164.
5. (21) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 164.
6. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 164.
7. (8) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 164.
8. (40) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 164.
9. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 164.
10. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 164.
11. (24) John Hunter Nemechek #, Ford, 164.
12. (15) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 164.
13. (23) Christopher Bell #, Toyota, 164.
14. (26) Michael McDowell, Ford, 164.
15. (32) Brennan Poole #, Chevrolet, 164.
16. (36) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 164.
17. (7) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 164.
18. (5) Aric Almirola, Ford, 164.
19. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 164.
20. (1) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 164.
21. (25) Corey LaJoie, Ford, Accident, 163.
22. (29) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 163.
23. (34) Quin Houff #, Chevrolet, 162.
24. (35) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 161.
25. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 161.
26. (30) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Accident, 159.
27. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 158.
28. (19) Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, Accident, 158.
29. (18) Tyler Reddick #, Chevrolet, Accident, 158.
30. (16) Cole Custer #, Ford, Accident, 158.
31. (37) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 158.
32. (31) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 155.
33. (11) Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 152.
34. (13) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 151.
35. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, Accident, 151.
36. (22) Ryan Newman, Ford, Accident, 151.
37. (28) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, Accident, 151.
38. (39) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 151.
39. (38) James Davison, Ford, Accident, 139.
40. (33) J.J. Yeley(i), Chevrolet, Engine, 3.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 153.766 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 39 Mins, 59 Secs. Margin of Victory: .119 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps.
Lead Changes: 35 among 16 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. Truex Jr. 1;K. Harvick 2-5;W. Byron 6;K. Harvick 7;W. Byron 8-21;A. Bowman 22;A. Almirola 23;W. Byron 24-28;E. Jones 29-33;W. Byron 34-35;J. Logano 36-51;R. Blaney 52;B. Keselowski 53;C. Bell # 54-55;E. Jones 56-65;K. Busch 66-71;*. Suarez 72-90;J. Logano 91-101;M. Truex Jr. 102;K. Harvick 103;J. Logano 104-105;M. Truex Jr. 106-111;J. Logano 112;M. Truex Jr. 113-118;K. Busch 119-125;J. Logano 126-130;M. McDowell 131-132;K. Busch 133-150;K. Busch 151;D. Hamlin 152-155;T. Reddick # 156;D. Hamlin 157;J. Logano 158;D. Hamlin 159-162;W. Byron 163-164.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Joey Logano 6 times for 36 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 31 laps; William Byron 5 times for 24 laps; * Daniel Suarez 1 time for 19 laps; Erik Jones 2 times for 15 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 4 times for 14 laps; Denny Hamlin 3 times for 9 laps; Kevin Harvick 3 times for 6 laps; Christopher Bell # 1 time for 2 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 2 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 1 lap; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 1 lap; Kurt Busch 1 time for 1 lap; Aric Almirola 1 time for 1 lap; Tyler Reddick # 1 time for 1 lap; Alex Bowman 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,20,8,12,48,95,24,34,11,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,19,14,1,48,2,21,47,12,95
Top 16 in Points: 1. Kevin Harvick – 2057 (7 Wins); 2. Denny Hamlin – 2047 (6 Wins); 3. Brad Keselowski – 2029 (3 Wins); 4. Joey Logano – 2022 (2 Wins); 5. Chase Elliott – 2020 (2 Wins); 6. Martin Truex, Jr. – 2014 (1 Win); 7. Ryan Blaney – 2013 (1 Win); 8. Alex Bowman – 2009 (1 Win); 9. William Byron – 2007 (1 Win); 10. Austin Dillon – 2005 (1 Win); 11. Cole Custer – 2005 (1 Win); 12. Aric Almirola – 2005; 13. Clint Bowyer – 2004; 14. Kyle Busch – 2003; 15. Kurt Busch – 2001; 16. Matt DiBenedetto – 2000.
