William Byron won the Daytona 500 race on the occasion of the 40th anniversary year of Hendrick Motorsports. Plus, Byron’s win gave the team owner a record-tying nine Daytona 500 victories. Byron became the sixth different driver to win the Daytona 500 for Hendrick Motorsports and the first in nine years.

However, that’s not all why his win was so damn special. He broke a trend that has been there for the past three years as a prominent NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi pointed out.

William Byron became the first elite talent since 2020 to win the Daytona 500

Byron’s victory on Monday was his 11th in the Cup Series since he started in 2018. Hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, Byron was a strong contender in the 2023 NASCAR championship race, finishing just a stone’s throw away in third place, right behind the champion Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson, a fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver who grabbed the 2021 title.

Looking ahead, Byron is on a mission to follow in the footsteps of Larson and 2020 Cup Series champ Chase Elliott, aiming to secure another championship trophy for NASCAR’s leading team in the remaining 35 races.

But the recent trend at Daytona showed a crash during the final laps and the victory was finally clinched by someone who led just a few laps to grab it. As per Jordan Binachi, the race played out pretty well, as it rewarded the drivers who smartly positioned themselves correctly. Of course, there are elements of luck. On one side, while he appreciated what William Byron did on the track, he did not forget to mention Denny Hamlin’s name.

During the final laps, that big crash happened, but according to Bianchi, “You got a worthy winner… I think it’s important. I’m not diminishing what Michael McDowell did in 2021, Austin Cinder did in 2022, or Ricky Sennhouse did in 2023. They were deserving winners. They are very good in super-speedway races. But it’s… also nice to see one of NASCAR’s elite talents – championship contenders, who going into the year everyone has pegged as the guy, who one of the guys who’s gonna win the championship – rise to the occasion and win this race. It really hasn’t happened since 2020 and it was good to see that happen tonight.”

While the final lap could have become a problem for him due to the second major crash William Byron managed to cross the finish line under the white flag.

What happened during the final laps?

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There was a hysterical rush after a restart on Lap 197. Also, during the final lap, a crash broke out behind Byron, making him cross the finish line under the white flag. Had he gotten stuck in that one crash, HMS’s dream of winning the Daytona 500 race would have crashed with it. While Byron did cross the finish line first, just to be sure that he was an official winner, he circled one more lap. Also, Dale Earnhardt Jr was the last Hendrick Motorsports driver to win the Daytona 500 back in 2014.

Read More: Rick Hendrick Wants William Byron to Feel Pressured Despite Winning the Daytona 500

Plus, it was actually a 1-2 finish for the HMS team, as Alex Bowman finished close second to William Byron. With this victory, Hendrick equals the record of Petty Enterprises of 9 race wins at Daytona 500, the most in the history of the NASCAR Cup series.

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