William Byron’s Daytona 500 performance
The engines roared to life in front of a sold-out crowd for the 2023 Daytona 500, which kickstarted NASCAR’s historic 75th season.
The first 178 laps saw Liberty online student William Byron yo-yo between the front of the field and the middle of the pack. A late-race strategy call and a quick stop cemented the No. 24 car in third position when a caution flew with 22 laps left. On the ensuing restart, a late move left Byron to freefall in the middle lane until teammate Alex Bowman picked him up in the draft. The Raptor Chevy narrowly avoided bouncing off a few cars, and Byron found his way back to fifth as the field fell into a single-file line.
As the laps in regulation ticked away, Byron followed the two RCR Chevrolets past the RFK Fords to settle into third. Before Byron could plot his path to victory, the caution flag flew for Daniel Suarez careening out of turn four and into the grass on the front stretch to send the race into overtime.
With his first Daytona 500 win in sight, Byron decided to play nice with his Chevrolet compatriots on the restart, but Austin Dillon lost control of his Camaro and collected Byron in the wreckage to end his race.
Including today’s accident, Byron has never finished the Great American Race incident-free. Credited with a 34th-place finish, Byron watched from the infield as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the victory under caution following a last-lap crash.
Byron and the NASCAR Cup Series travel to Fontana, California, next week to begin their three-race West Coast swing at Auto Club Speedway.
Barnes is a sport reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on Twitter