It might have taken longer than expected but the 2025 Daytona 500 gave fans a little bit of everything despite it finishing under the lights.
William Byron won his second consecutive Daytona 500, taking the checkered flag after a last-lap wreck took out multiple contenders.
The 27-year-old becomes the first back-to-back winner of the first race of the NASCAR season at Daytona Beach, Florida since Denny Hamlin in 2019-2020.
Hamlin was leading coming into the final lap but his car spun out after being involved in a crash with Austin Cindric on the back stretch.
Byron, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, told the Fox broadcast after the race, it was “super good fortune” to get the win.
“Just obviously fortunate it worked out in our favor,” Byron said. “Just really proud of this team. Worked super hard all week. Had an amazing car…Crazy? Yeah. I can’t honestly believe that but we’re here.”
The final lap was on a green-white-checker restart after another huge wreck four laps earlier saw Ryan Preece’s No. 60 Ford go airborne and into the wall.
The 34-year-old Preece gave his team a signal that he was okay and later was “evaluated and released from the infield care center,” per NASCAR.
Preece told the broadcast what his thoughts were when his car flipped.
“When the car took off like that, it got real quiet and all I thought about was my daughter,” Preece said. “So, I am lucky to walk away.”
Christopher Bell, who was involved in the wreck, was also evaluated and later released.
Wet weather was always in the forecast for NASCAR’s premiere race, and less than 10 minutes after the green flag dropped, the skies opened over Daytona International Speedway, prompting the race to be red flagged after just 11 of the scheduled 200 laps.
After a delay of more than three hours, the race resumed under caution. The drivers took nine yellow flag laps around the two-and-a-half mile tri-oval track before rain began to fall again, drawing another red flag.
Twenty-three minutes later, the weather cleared for good and the Great American Race was able to start in earnest.
The race ran relatively uneventfully for more than 40 laps with several drivers taking turns in the lead before a small wreck on the 63rd lap led to a caution.
When the green flag waved to restart the race on the 71st lap, Joey Logano, who was in front of the outside lane, couldn’t find any power. His car slowed down, causing a chain reaction behind him that eventually led to a crash which knocked several cars out of the race.
Logano, the reigning NASCAR champion, who won the first stage of the race, made his way to pit row, where his car was worked on by his mechanics. Logano’s mechanical issues took him from up front back into the middle of the pack, as his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney won the race’s second stage.
Prior to the start of the race, President Donald Trump made an appearance at the track, where his presidential motorcade led the field of drivers in one lap around the tri-oval course, and he delivered a message of encouragement via radio.
“This is your favorite president,” Trump said. “I am a really big fan of you people. How you do this I don’t know, but I just want you to be safe. You’re talented people and you’re great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun and I’ll see you later.”
Trump, sporting his trademark red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, was joined by his young granddaughter, wearing a white MAGA cap, as he mingled with drivers and racing royalty such as Richard Petty on pit row before the race began.
The president was also on hand for the pre-race invocation and national anthem.
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