As a race that was sprinkled with smoking wrecks all over, the delayed Daytona 500 ramped up a lot of emotions. The ugly crashes flipped around cars and had fans gasping in shock or delight. The mess started early enough, around lap 6, when seven cars got entangled in a wreck that knocked out Carson Hocevar, Harrison Burton, and Kaz Grala. But William Byron held on.

Besides being a super chaotic one, the race was thoroughly unpredictable. The drivers played catch with each other and the lead position was the ball. The leaderboard saw 41 lead shuffles between 20 drivers. Five of those changes came over the race’s final 20 laps when it became clear that William Byron was heading for a potential victory.

William Byron may make winning a habit this year

Recording his first-ever historic victory at the Great American Race, William Byron will be heading into the other races with massive confidence. His 11th career win comes after six Cup Series wins last year. Driving for seven years at NASCAR’s top level, he has snagged at least one win each year since 2020. 

Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, was all smiles after the tear-jerking victory. In an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he said, “To have a chance to win any race in NASCAR, let alone the Cup Series, let alone the Daytona 500: this is a dream come true.”

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Fugle is confident about a glittering year ahead for Byron at Hendrick Motorsports. “We gotta start the year off right. This year is about championships, you know: Daytona 500 championships, World 600 championships. All those big races we haven’t won yet. And the one at the end of the year: that’s what we want.”

Byron’s win marked Hendrick Motorsport’s 9th victory at the Daytona 500. This tied the organization with Petty Enterprises for owning maximum Harley J. Earl trophies. Alex Bowman, Byron’s teammate, finished second. This marked the first Hendrick 1-2 finish since Jimmie Johnson outsmarted Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap in the 2013 Daytona race.

An emotional Rick Hendrick said, “For a long time, we have hauled zero trophies home, but instead we have hauled home a lot of wrecked race cars.” It was his team’s ninth Daytona victory after a decade-long losing streak.

Watch This Story: The Unseen Turmoil Behind Earnhardt’s Daytona Triumph

The two wrecks that cleared out contenders from Byron’s path

Byron had to put up against some veteran racers out for blood at the Daytona track. But he somehow clawed his way up, even surpassing them. On lap 192, Byron took a chance and hooked Brad Keselowski on turn 3. This sent Keselowski spiraling off course and hitting Logano, which ultimately caused a massive 20-car wreck.

Finally, with only four laps remaining, Byron narrowly missed a violent shove by Ross Chastain. Chastain meant to push Byron out of the way, but instead ended up hitting Austin Cindric. Both Cindric and Byron lost control and slid off the asphalt and onto the grass. This ultimately confirmed Byron in the leader’s position.

William Byron’s superb victory at the Daytona 500 is just the beginning, with an entire season for him to continue shining.

Daytona 500: William Byron Ends HMS’ Decade-Long Misery With Ravishing Win, Big One Flips the Script Shockingly