DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron’s quest for a third consecutive Harley J. Earl Trophy was nearly over before it began during Sunday’s Daytona 500. But the No. 24 team did what the No. 24 team does: maximize its races. Such a mindset led to a 12th-place finish, respectable to begin the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Tallying the top-15 result didn’t come easy. BJ McLeod spun on Lap 5 of the 200-lap marathon, triggering a multicar pileup. Included was Byron, who ran into the rear bumper of Justin Allgaier and JR Motorsports’ No. 40 effort. The No. 24 Chevrolet ricocheted off the wall, causing significant right-side damage.
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“Our right-front suspension was bent,” Byron said, “so our car was tracking weirdly and super loose and tight at the same time.”
By the end of the opening stage, Byron rallied to 13th position, third of those who made multiple pit stops throughout the first 65 laps. He remained clean until a colossal 20-car pileup occurred on Lap 122, when Allgaier faded up on Denny Hamlin at the front of the field. The No. 24 car was in the eye of the storm, receiving additional harm.
After several trips to pit road for repair, Byron remained in the lead draft as the field began stretching its fuel tanks. The No. 24 car was among seven cars to pit during a final sequence of green-flag pit stops on Lap 188. When the field bunched back together, he was third of the cars that had pitted before a trio of Toyotas wrecked with nine laps remaining in regulation.
One lap after the restart, Byron was pushed to the lead but wasn’t scored as the leader when the field crossed the line. When he was pushed out front by Brad Keselowski, he thought the No. 24 was too wounded to throw haymaker blocks at the front of the field.
“I thought I was in the catbird seat,” Byron said of taking the lead. “I felt everyone was going to continue to block and move up off the bottom. I had Brad, who is a really good pusher, with me. I’m like, ‘man, this could be perfect. We could get lined up, and I might get pushed too far out front.’ It didn’t materialize that way. The bottom was a struggle all day.
“All of those guys blew past us, even when we were connected and pushing. Unfortunate, but I don’t feel like I could have taken the top lane and hung on to my car — it was pretty beat up.”
On a final lap that saw two separate excursions, Byron had to ease up entering Turn 1 as race leader Carson Hocevar was turned in front of the field. Byron evaded to the left, dropping below the yellow line. When he re-entered the pack, he clipped the apron and drifted up the racing surface. He scurried around for a 12th-place finish, his first top-15 result in the “Great American Race” outside of his victories in the previous two years.
Even being in contention for the victory toward the end of 500 miles was a morale boost to begin the 2026 season. Ultimately, it was a championship-esque performance, though it was the opener to a 36-race campaign.
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“I couldn’t believe we had a shot at the end,” Byron said. “I thought now I have a shot lining up on the front two rows. That’s all you can ask for, really. I got (Tyler Reddick) out to a decent lead on the restart, and the bottom was the place to be. There was one time I got clear and probably could have taken the middle, but I didn’t know if my car could handle the pushes up there. I had to keep my car straight, so I felt if I went to make a block, I would wreck.
“The Lap (5) crash, I thought, was going to be the end of our competitive day, and we did a good job patching it up.”