Daytona 500 takeaways: Thrilling race ends with familiar winner

Here are five takeaways from the Daytona 500:

Byron repeats as Daytona 500 champion

While he only led 10 laps the entire race, Byron put himself in position late and avoided the “Big One” on the final lap to hold off Tyler Reddick and win his second straight Daytona 500.

Byron’s win gives Chevrolet three in a row in NASCAR’s most prestigious race and moves Hendrick Motorsports past Petty Enterprises for the most Daytona 500 wins (10) by an organization. He joins Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin (2016, 2019, 2020) as the only active full-time drivers with multiple Daytona 500 wins.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who famously piloted the No. 24, had three Daytona 500 victories. At just 27 years of age, Byron already has two with the majority of his career still in front of him. 

Multiple ‘Big Ones’ strike

Aside from the last lap carnage entering turn three, there were multiple instances of the ‘Big One’ throughout an action-packed Daytona 500.

On a Lap 71 restart, race leader Joey Logano, who was experiencing electrical problems, caused the field to stack up and collected several drivers in the process.

With 15 laps to go, Logano was eliminated for good when he made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr, sending the 2023 Daytona 500 champion around and spoiling any hopes of a first Daytona 500 triumph for Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott.

With five laps to go, Ryan Preece flipped upside down and landed on all four tires, the second time the veteran driver has ended up on his roof at Daytona in the last three seasons.

Sunday proved once again that, while Daytona can be unpredictable, the ‘Big One’ is always inevitable at the “World Center of Racing.”

Team Penske’s dominant day comes up short

Leader of a race-high 59 laps, Cindric looked like the car to beat for several portions of the race. Combined with teammates Logano and Blaney, the three led a combined 125 laps.

While the storied team did not find victory lane, the three drivers once again took control of a superspeedway race and appeared to have the race won until chaos erupted late.

Up-and-down race for noteworthy drivers

Battling through the late race chaos, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson – making one of two scheduled starts this season – came home third. Justin Allgaier — driving JR Motorsports’ first Cup Series entry with Chris Stapleton’s Traveller Whiskey brand as a sponsor — finished ninth.

For 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr. and four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves, their fortunes were not so good after getting caught up in the Lap 71 mess. Although they finished 38th and 39th, respectively, those four drivers and teams collectively garnered a lot of attention and provided fans with even more to follow along with.

Mother Nature makes another appearance

For the second consecutive Daytona 500 and fourth time in the last six years, Mother Nature caused some problems in the “Great American Race.”

Unlike last year’s race, which did not run at all on Sunday and was held on Monday, the 2025 version was completed in its entirety with no postponement. While it may have been delayed for over three hours and turned into a marathon of a day, Byron was the winner, forcing mother nature to settle for second place.