To the naked eye, it may have appeared that Alex Bowman was ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron at the time of caution on the final lap of the Daytona 500.
Images and videos of the final seconds of green flag conditions flooded the NASCAR Twittersphere, and fans on social media quickly judged that Race Control robbed Bowman of the win.
If the caution had been put out perhaps a second or two later, Bowman might have been declared the winner since he was moving faster than Byron as the two headed for Turn 1 on Lap 200.
But NASCAR deemed Byron the winner, and an aerial camera shot posted by NASCAR clearly displays the No. 24 car ahead of the No. 48.
https://x.com/NASCAR/status/1759760432745566449?s=20
Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric spun across the grass on the frontstretch as the field took the white flag, and Cindric’s No. 2 car tapered back onto the racing surface. At this point, NASCAR decided a caution was necessary since crashing was bound to occur with Cindric going sideways in front of the pack.
If Cindric stayed below the apron like Chastain’s car did, NASCAR would have kept the green flag out, but as soon as a dangerous situation evolves, NASCAR must do everything it can in the interest of driver safety.
Byron’s victory on Monday evening was the first Daytona 500 triumph of his career and the 11th as a Cup Series driver. He notably began his motorsports career on iRacing, a computer game that simulates real-life auto racing, and has become a NASCAR superstar in less than a decade.
At age 25, Byron had a breakout season in 2023 with a half dozen wins and a Championship 4 appearance. He looked like a favorite for the title last season as he won at Phoenix Raceway — the series’ title venue — in the spring and then won the pole for the championship finale. But he ended up third in the standings after finishing fourth in the fall running.
There’s no doubt he’ll be a force to deal with again this season, and starting off the 2024 campaign with a Daytona 500 win is sending a statement to the competition.
According to NASCAR’s timing and scoring monitor, he was six-thousandths of a second ahead of Bowman. Christopher Bell, Corey LaJoie, and Bubba Wallace completed the top five.
“I am just so proud of this team — this whole No. 24 Axalta Chevy team, winning on the 40th anniversary to the day (of Hendrick Motorsports’ first race),” Byron said post-race. “Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, and we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start, obviously.”
The Hendrick No. 24 is no stranger to Daytona 500 victory lane. Jeff Gordon won the race three times in his career, although it was 19 years ago that the car number last celebrated a 500 championship.
“I think Rick (Hendrick, team owner) will tell you that it’s certainly not the same as being in the driver’s seat, but we’ve been able to celebrate some big wins and championships together,” said Gordon, who’s been retired since the end of 2015 and is now vice chairman at HMS. “… to see how people rally around and the teamwork that goes in it makes you appreciate it so much more.
“When I found out that (Byron’s team) won, I was honestly about as excited as I was driving. I try not to be biased, but William is making it hard on me. … the 24 is always going to be very special to me. I want to see William make the number his 24.”
Bowman was bummed to finish second by such a narrow margin but was happy for his teammate. His runner-up was the best he’s ever finished in the 500.
“Proud of William and his team — they deserved it there at the end,” he said. “They did all the right things, and I feel like we did too there at the end. Had to go up and block the top lane, and that just killed the middle for a bit. We got the middle back rolling, and then they all started crashing.
“Just proud of everybody on this No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Super pumped for everybody at Hendrick Motorsports – it’s 40 years to the day since the first HMS race, so really cool to see William in victory lane, and obviously a good day for our Ally Camaro, as well.”
