9th to 1st: Wild Last Lap Nets William Byron Back-to-Back Daytona 500s
William Byron will etch his name onto the Harley J. Earl Trophy for the second consecutive season, a feat that only four drivers prior to him (Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin, and Denny Hamlin) had accomplished. However, the way Byron took home his second victory in NASCAR's biggest race could potentially be the craziest tale ever told in the 67-year history of The Great American Race.
"Crazy. I can't honestly believe that," Byron said in his victory interview on FOX. "But we're here. So proud of it."
In an overtime finish, which was set up by a vicious crash, that ended with Ryan Preece flipping down the backstretch for the second time in three years at Daytona, Byron -- the defending winner of the Daytona 500 -- entered the final lap of the race very much a longshot to win.
As the field took the white flag, the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet found himself in the ninth position. While you can make up a lot of positions in a single lap at Daytona thanks to the assistance of the draft, nine spots seemed impossible. Until we were reminded that at Daytona nothing is impossible.
Right after the screaming pack took the white flag, Rookie of the Year contender Riley Herbst -- fifth at the time -- was sent sideways into the infield grass in the trioval, which allowed Byron to move into the eighth position. Then, John Hunter Nemechek would stall out slightly, which was enough for Byron to squeeze by him for the seventh position before he had reached Turn 1. For those keeping score at home, Byron was now up two positions.
Through Turns 1 and 2, Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin engaged in an aggressive battle for the race lead. Hamlin would knife his car to the outside lane and would be blocked. He'd zag low, and Cindric would defend again. Finally, Hamlin was able to get alongside Cindric down the backstretch, and it looked like the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was well on his way to a fourth career Daytona 500 win.
But Daytona has a weird way of making impossible things, well, possible. And on Sunday night, the legendary facility outdid itself.
Byron would slice his No. 24 machine to the outside behind Cole Custer, who had moved into the runner-up spot down the backstretch. However, Custer would incur contact with Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric, which would clear a path for Byron in the high line, and it sent Custer into race leader Hamlin's right rear quarter panel.
A few spots behind the leaders, Corey LaJoie would go for a spin to the inside of the track, and after the contact with Custer, Hamlin began spinning up the track directly into the path of Byron. He was either going to narrowly miss Hamlin and win the race, or there was going to be a spectacular crash and we'd be talking about how close Byron had come to a back-to-back only to fall short.
Fortunately, for Byron, there was just enough room to squeeze by the crashing Hamlin, and he would complete his single-lap rally from 9th to 1st, and he would hold off 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick in a mad dash to the finish line for the unexpected race win in what was a wild finish, even by Daytona's lofty standards.
Here is the finish of Sunday's Daytona 500 from the FOX Sports broadcast:
WILLIAM BYRON WINS THE DAYTONA 500! AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/hPvnCkcNRa
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2025
While some could consider Byron's win on Sunday a fluke due to the truly insane circumstances that had to play out for him to pull off the win, Byron said after thinking it over, he knows there's no such thing as a fluke in the NASCAR Cup Series.
"Well, I was thinking about this with a few laps to go. Everyone in this series is so incredibly good that there is never a fluke in this series," Byron explained. "Yeah, sure. Well, I was thinking about this with a few laps to go. Everyone in this series is so incredibly good that there is never a fluke in this series."
And even if the path to the win was strange, Byron says that his team poured their heart and souls into his No. 24 Chevrolet in the offseason with the goal of winning the Daytona 500 in mind.
"When you get around this long enough, you respect everyone that you race against and what it takes. But I didn't know how to feel after we took the checkered," Byron said. "Last year was a little bit -- it was definitely easier to understand the emotions. But this year was different. I just didn't know how to feel when we took the checkered. But as it sets in, you can't take the win away. It is what it is, and we're going to enjoy it as a team because there's so much hard work that goes into it."
Reddick would hold on to finish second by a margin of 0.113 seconds. Had Reddick been able to fully clear Hamlin's spinning car on the backstretch, he feels he could have captured his first career Daytona 500 win, but it wasn't meant to be.
"I knew that me and [Byron] had a good run and they were throwing big blocks, and when they started spinning on the inside and I had a run on the 24, I thought, man, if I can just make it through on [Hamlin] and not scrub my speed, I would have had at least an opportunity to do something," Reddick said.
Byron's crew chief Rudy Fugle says that he couldn't believe it when he saw his car come off of Turn 4 with the lead. Fugle says the difference in emotions from last year to this year were vast.
Then personally, last year that win brought me to tears. And then this win, it brought me to laughter is what I said just because -- I looked up and we're getting ready to win, and it was just amazing," Fugle said. "Here we were. Two totally different emotions."
Still Reddick was happy to finally finish a Daytona 500, something he's had a hard time doing over his NASCAR Cup Series career.
"All in all, I never really finished a race here unless it was 40 laps down, so I'll take second," Reddick admitted. "We wanted to get a good start to the year, and we scored a lot of points today. So I'm really happy with everyone's effort on this 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry."
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson picked up his first top-five finish since the 2020 season as he recorded a third-place run in the No. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camry XSE in the chaotic finish. Johnson, 49, left the race feeling fulfilled.
"This feels incredible. I have emotions that I didn't expect to have," Johnson said. "I've never been in this position as an owner, and it's really opened up a different set of emotions. And the pride that I have in this result and the pride that I have in this company, now that we're trying to achieve and the journey we're on, I am so satisfied, so happy right now."
Briscoe, the Daytona 500 polesitter in his first points-paying start for Joe Gibbs Racing, survived being involved in the final crash to come home in the fourth position, and John Hunter Nemechek finished fifth to make it a double LEGACY MOTOR CLUB top-five night.
Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 finishers in the Daytona 500.
Allgaier's top-10 effort, which is the best finish in his career in the Daytona 500, came in JR Motorsports' first ever NASCAR Cup Series start.
Hamlin, who was so close to his fourth career Daytona 500 victory, would be credited with a disappointing 24th-place finish after crashing on the last lap.
Four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves made his NASCAR Cup Series debut, and after starting from the 41st position, he climbed his way into the top-15 during the race. However, his night ended early with a seven-car crash on Lap 71.
Despite the early exit, Castroneves said he had a great time running in the NASCAR Cup Series car, and that he would be open to running additional NASCAR races, especially at road courses.
The Lap 71 incident also marked the end of the race for 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., who was making the maiden NASCAR Cup Series start for TRICON Garage, and Ross Chastain.
President Donald Trump visited Sunday's Daytona 500, and paced the field for a few laps with The Beast. After Trump gave way, the field competed for nine laps before rain halted the action. In all, the race was delayed twice by weather, but ultimately, the race was able to finish on the same day it started.
The 2025 Daytona 500 feature 56 lead changes among 15 drivers, and there were a total of eight cautions, including four multi-car crashes.
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Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.