DAYTONA 500
Daytona International Speedway
Sunday, Feb. 16 | 2:30 p.m. ET
• In an event postponed to Monday in 2024, William Byron captured his first DAYTONA 500 win, becoming the fifth-youngest winner of the Great American Race at 26 years, 2 months and 21 days.
• With the victory, Byron joined five other NASCAR Cup Series drivers who have won the prestigious race for Hendrick Motorsports – Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, and Geoff Bodine. He’s the only active driver for the organization with a DAYTONA 500 win.
Daytona title defense starts now. pic.twitter.com/IhYzUbGgP9
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) February 11, 2025
• Last year’s DAYTONA 500 victory was his second at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. He previously won at Daytona in August 2020, his first career Cup Series win. In total, Byron has two wins, one pole, three top-five finishes and four top 10s with 100 laps led at Daytona.
• In 34 starts on drafting tracks, Byron has four wins – tied for fourth with those who have multiple wins on that style of track.
• Two of those victories came in the last 10 drafting races making the 27-year-old driver the only repeat winner. In those same 10 starts, Byron has eight top-10 finishes which leads all drivers.
• Rudy Fugle returns for his fifth year with the No. 24 team. Fugle and Byron have 140 Cup Series starts together making them the fourth-most-tenured driver and crew chief pairing.
Byron talks DAYTONA 500: “I’m excited to get back to Daytona. It took a while for last year’s win to really sink in, but I think it’ll definitely set in this week especially when we get the car back. It’s cool to know that we’re in a position this week to go back-to-back which only a few drivers have done. Hopefully we can kick the season off in that way.”
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS
• Hendrick Motorsports enters 2025 with at least one points-paying NASCAR Cup Series win in each of the last 39 seasons. It’s the longest streak by any team in the sport’s history.
• The 14-time Cup Series champions come into the 2025 DAYTONA 500 tied with Petty Enterprises for the all-time lead in Great American Race victories with nine.
• After William Byron’s performance in 2024, Hendrick Motorsports became the only organization to win the DAYTONA 500 in five different decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s). Last year’s victory also gave the organization its fourth 1-2 finish in the event, the most all time.
• With 16 DAYTONA 500 pole awards, Hendrick Motorsports has 10 more than any other team in history. It has earned eight of the last 10 pole positions for the race.
• A record six different drivers have won the DAYTONA 500 for Hendrick Motorsports.
• Byron’s victory in 2024 gave Hendrick Motorsports 33 victories on drafting tracks, 12 more than any other organization.
• Hendrick Motorsports has led 3,360 miles in the DAYTONA 500, enough to drive from Key West, Florida, to Alaska.