William Byron delivered Hendrick Motorsports an elusive victory. It’s not new to them.
William Byron thought about the bigger picture.
There were two laps left in the Daytona 500, and Byron was lined up on the front row after being pushed into the lead.
The 26-year-old has become one of NASCAR’s best drivers. But not every Cup Series great wins this prestigious race. Or wins a championship. Or wins six races in a season.
He realized the remainder of green flag racing on Monday evening could be the only chance in his career to etch his name into this section of NASCAR history books. Not just for him, but it presented a good opportunity for Hendrick Motorsports to break its 10-year Daytona 500 drought.
And that motivated him.
“Man, this might be my only shot to ever win this race. Like literally,” Bryon remembers thinking. “There’s a lot of people that never get a chance to line up on the front row with two laps to go. I feel like that motivated me, just the thought of: ‘This might be the only time I get this clean of a chance.’
“I think I might never have a chance to win this race again, honestly, so I’m going to cherish it for that reason.”
Hendrick Motorsports is one of NASCAR’s most storied teams. In fact, its drivers are now tied for the most Daytona 500 victories of any racing team. But for the past decade, the checkered flag at the Great American Race had eluded them.
Rick Hendrick, the businessman nicknamed “Mr. H,” continually reminded Kyle Larson and his other drivers that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014 Daytona 500 win was the organization’s last.
And in 2024, it was the driver of the No. 24 car — famously associated with now Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon — who took the checkered flag, and Alex Bowman driving Hendrick’s well-known No. 48 Chevy Camaro into second place.
“I try not to be biased, but William is making it hard on me,” Gordon said. “The 24 is always going to be very, very special to me. But what I loved the most is seeing him make it his number and building that fan base — not only 24 fans who have been around for a long time, but his own fans.
“What I saw was our teams — our guys, our drivers, all the Chevy guys I thought worked well together. But it was great to see Alex (Bowman) pushing William (Byron) to try to get him to that lead, and that’s exactly what you want those guys to do.”
Following the late restart in Monday’s race, Bowman said he had a mental debate about whether to push Byron and be a good teammate or try and win the race himself. But once some drivers moved to the outside lane, he had to stay in the stacked middle lane and was happy to see his teammate get the win.
Bowman had missed four races early last season after suffering a fractured vertebra in a sprint car race at a dirt track in Iowa. He noted how it derailed his season and added his back “feels pretty OK” this time around.
“We all counted me out six months ago,” Bowman told reporters. “It’s a speedway race, and it’s one race. ... We need to continue to show it each and every week. Last year, we started the season really strong, and then I went and broke my back. So, gonna avoid that this year and go from there.”
Jeff Gordon embraced Bowman on pit road after the race. “Awesome teamwork,” Gordon said with a smile as he hugged his driver. “Thanks for the 1-2, man.”
