DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona International Speedway finally returned its loaner car to team leader Rick Hendrick on Sunday, giving the No. 24 Chevrolet that William Byron drove to victory in the 2024 Daytona 500 back to its rightful owner after a year of ceremonial display. The 75-year-old automotive mogul mused about what was at stake later that day — a 10th win in the 500, which would put Hendrick Motorsports one ahead of Petty Enterprises atop the all-time record books.
Hours after the prerace ceremony where last year’s car was presented back to the team, Byron made sure the record was broken and that it was an even, one-for-one swap with this year’s model. He also made sure not to rush through the moment, letting the elation take its full effect.
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“I think that I’m not much of a historian, I guess. Like, I’m still in the midst of my career and just continuing to progress, but really special the ceremony that they have here and everything that we were able to be a part of, and I think it’ll be just as special next year,” Byron said. “Last year, I guess, I was a little bit — I was looking ahead really quickly about the rest of the season. I think this year, I’ll enjoy this race and then we’ll get down the road and get focused on the year.”
Byron entered the “Great American Race” stratosphere with a needle-threading triumph in Sunday’s 67th edition, extending his Speedweeks reign to a second consecutive campaign. Just four drivers — Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin — had gone back-to-back in the 500, and all four are among NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers. Sunday night, Byron made that list five.
With last year’s win, Byron continued to carve his own path with the No. 24, a car number Jeff Gordon — now Hendrick Motorsports’ vice chairman — made famous as a driver. This year, Byron strengthened his bond with Daytona, a track that yielded the first of his now 14 NASCAR Cup Series victories. At 27, he also became the youngest winner with multiple Daytona 500 crowns, a stat that pipped the previous mark set by Gordon.
“I hope he breaks them all,” Gordon said, smiling alongside Byron. “I’m in full support of that.”
Byron’s title defense looked strong early as he led seven of the first 15 laps — a span that included the day’s longest of two red flags for rain. The team’s execution — which Byron touted as a focal point throughout the week — kept him in the hunt for the home stretch, where the jostling intensified and when a till-then-dominant Team Penske fizzled in the chaos.
Byron was in ninth place as he flashed under the white flag, mired back in the same unenviable spot he held a lap before when the overtime dash began. Up front was Austin Cindric with Hamlin in tow, and the two former Daytona 500 champions seemed in line to settle the “Great American Race” again.
Their elbows weren’t sharp enough, and the 40 feet of racing surface wasn’t wide enough. The almost prerequisite 11th-hour rooting and gouging ended in contact that swept Hamlin toward the wall and Cindric toward the apron, with the other front-runners scattering in their wake. The No. 24 Chevy chugged by in the high line, narrowly missing the melee. Byron was somehow home free, and crew chief Rudy Fugle was incredulous, saying he looked at the monitor atop the pit box, wondering how his driver had sprung so far forward.
“Personally, last year, that win brought me to tears,” said Fugle, who starts his fifth Cup Series season as Byron’s crew chief. “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. Here we were. Two totally different emotions. If we build a good enough team, things like this happen more times than not, and that’s what we’ve been working on. It’ll hopefully just become easier and easier as we go.”
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The good-fortune factor also hit home with Gordon.
“Today, I was pretty shocked because you kind of — you get the buildup and anticipation of, man, I think we’re in position to win this thing, and you get tense because you want it for them, and you want it for the organization,” Gordon said. “But today, I wasn’t like that at all. I was like, ‘Oh, well, darn. I guess we’re not going to get it this year.’ Then here we are. It was kind of a wild ride.”
Less surprised was Byron, who circled the team effort as a prime factor. The meticulous Daytona preparation came even as both driver and team made the most of their last blasts of free time in the offseason, with Byron exploring the world with an international travel spree and Fugle giving the No. 24 team the day off for a golf outing on the Friday before Daytona week — even as he suspected other teams were busy thrashing on their cars to get ready for the season’s biggest race.
Byron and Co. found their rhythm at the right time, and as for the improbable ninth-to-first vault on the final lap, Byron said he initially wasn’t sure what to make of it but pushed back on any notion that it was a fluke.
“Yeah, obviously, it worked out in a fortunate way for us, but it’s not all luck to win twice in a row,” Byron said. “It’s a lot of teamwork and a lot of talking with my spotter and us three working together and making the most of it. Definitely fortunate but definitely a lot of teamwork.”
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No driver has ever won the Daytona 500 three consecutive times, but Byron and his crew are more than happy to keep rotating cars through the track’s figurative display case. “Can we just do this every year?” Gordon laughed. “Feels good.”
Gordon says Hendrick will have plans for the white-with-flames No. 24 Chevrolet that just came back to the fold, just as he will for the blue-and-red-with-flames No. 24 that Byron made a winner Sunday night. The NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee is an avid collector and preserver — of both street cars and historic racers. Putting Daytona 500 winners on display at the track only delays the gratification by a year — a trade-off the company will gladly take.
“When he sees those cars,” Gordon says, “that’s him reminding himself how fortunate he feels like he is to be a part of this sport in the way that he is.”
