It took four hours of red flags for rain delays and a whole lot of wrecked cars, but the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has officially begun.

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet, took victory at the 67th running of the Daytona 500, the 200-mile race at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Byron wins back-to-back Daytona 500s

Stage 1 recap

The 67th running of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 kicked off early in a hope of avoiding an impending rainstorm, with Chase Briscoe (No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing, and the first Toyota to ever sit on pole at Daytona) and Austin Cindric (No. 2 Team Penske) leading the field to green.

The first several laps were positively civil as the two rows remained side-by-side, with the top line picking up some early momentum and second-row starter Bubba Wallace slotting in just behind Briscoe, then losing position to reigning Daytona 500 winner William Byron.

Michael McDowell jumped out to create a third lane on Lap 6, with the yellow flag flying three laps later as the first drops of rain began to fall. The field paced for two laps, then pulled into the pits courtesy of a red flag.

After three hours, nine minutes, and 59 seconds, the red flag lifted and drivers were invited to pace the field under yellow as the track dryers continued to dry pit lane.

The pit lane opened soon after and welcomed a slew of drivers looking to get the best position at the end of Stage 1, but another brief storm cell swept through and further delayed the drop of the green as the field was led to the pit lane for another red flag. Again, the field paced under yellow when the rain ceased in order to dry the pit lane.

On lap 24, the race went green again as a bright red sunset gave way to darkness with William Byron and Joey Logano leading the field. After a double-file restart, the field quickly added a third lane

No. 01 driver Corey LaJoie, who spent his child’s college fund to afford a one-off Rick Ware Racing ride for the Daytona 500, worked his way up to the front of the field to lead several laps in the first stage. Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch also took turns leading the field.

With three laps remaining in the stage, No. 11 driver Denny Hamlin lost control of his car sliding down onto the apron in response to the cars in front of him checking up. As his car moved back up on the track, he collected Josh Berry (No. 21), Zane Smith (No. 38), and Cindric in the process.

Stage 1 came to an end under yellow with the top-10 drivers securing an inverse number of points respective to their position. Those drivers were:

1. 1st – Joey Logano
2. 2nd – Brad Keselowski
3. 3rd – Ryan Blaney
4. 4th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
5. 5th – Christopher Bell
6. 6th – Alex Bowman
7. 7th – Daniel Suarez
8. 8th – Tyler Reddick
9. 9th – Erik Jones
10. 10th – William Byron

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Daytona 500 Stage 2 recap

The second stage kicked off, as usual, with a flurry of pit stops. Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier received penalties because their crews jumped over the wall too soon. The field went green on lap 71 and almost instantly brought out a caution as the field stacked up.

Also swept up in the crash were Helio Castroneves, Riley Herbst, Chase Briscoe, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Justin Allgaier, Cody Ware, Martin Truex, Shane van Gisbergen, and several others. Joey Logano also faced a long pit stop for gearbox repairs.

The race went back green into lap 77 with Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric leading a field that quickly added a third lane.

Lap 83 brought a caution for debris on the track, allowing Joey Logano to catch back up to the pack.

Four laps later, Cindric led Elliott to the green flag, kicking off a lengthy period of green-flag running that came to a close with a close Psneke battle.

More stage points were on the line for the top-10 finishers of stage two:

1. 1st – Ryan Blaney
2. 2nd – Austin Cindric
3. 3rd – Chase Elliot
4. 4th – Alex Bowman
5. 5th – Todd Gilliland
6. 6th – Chris Buescher
7. 7th – Erik Jones
8. 8th – Joey Logano
9. 9th – Bubba Wallace
10. 10th – Kyle Busch

Daytona 500: Final stage recap

The final stage of the Daytona 500 yet again arrived with a flurry of pit stops, with many drivers taking their final set of tires for the night. Stage three began on Lap 138 with Blaney leading Busch and Kyle Larson. The third lane kicked up immediately and quickly sucked Blaney out of the lead, leaving Wallace to head the field.

A desperate scramble for the lead began in full force between the cars that had pitted for fresh rubber, those who had stayed out and retained track position, and those that had escaped damage up to this point in the race.

With all to play for, the pack stayed three wide from tip to toe of the field before a yellow flag flew with 39 laps remaining in the race; debris needed to be cleaned from the track.

With the remainder of the race now within fuel window, stops followed as soon as the pit lane opened with drivers and crews hoping that final tank would be enough to carry them to the end.

Green-flag racing resumed with 35 laps remaining, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric leading the field to green. With no need for fuel saving, the real fight for victory was ready to begin.

A third line tried to form but quickly deteriorated, with the bottom lane stretching out single file. Notable players at this stage were Kyle Busch, chasing his first Daytona 500 win in an otherwise massively accomplished career; and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie trying to claw back track position by bouncing between the middle and high lanes. With 16 to go, they finally made it happen and began to challenge for the lead.

Unfortunately, Logano kicked off a massive crash immediately after by trying to use a push from John Hunter Nemechek to form a new lane to push into the lead. Stenhouse darted in front of Logano to block, leaving the Penske driver making contact and wiggling before ultimately losing control.

Among the drivers involved were Blaney, Elliott, Stenhouse, Noah Gragson, Busch, Todd Gilliland and Austin Dillon.

With eight laps remaining, LaJoie and Cindric led the field to green. LaJoie grabbed an early lead until a push from Denny Hamlin shot Austin Cindric back into the lead. Hamlin then grabbed the lead and began trying to manage both lanes to remain there.

Christopher Bell led the high lane, but his No. 20 wasn’t taking a push well from Cole Custer behind him, and with five laps remaining, he lost control. Bell turned into the wall and caught up several cars behind him, causing the No. 60 of Ryan Preece to get airborne and blow over.

Yet again, quite a few other cars took damage, including Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, and more.

To clean up the debris, NASCAR waved a red flag, though it didn’t take long. When Hamlin and Cindric took the flag, it was a green-white checker. On the final lap, Hamlin mounted a strong challenge only to get loose, causing yet another massive crash.

The No. 24 of William Byron slipped into the lead as the cars behind him wrecked for a back-to-back victory at the Daytona 500.

Tyler Reddick finished second while seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson finished third in a strong result for Legacy Motor Club.

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