William Byron Wins Daytona and Makes Playoffs

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DAYONA BEACH, FL - RIS - The final race of the NASCAR Cup season at Daytona International Speed was a wild affair, as expected.  William Byron rallied to win the race in overtime and Jimmie Johnson's accident near the end kept him out of his final chance to win his eighth Cup championship.  The win locks him in the playoffs.

The No. 24 Chevrolet driver slid between Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace with the field running four-wide heading into the closing laps. The close racing sent Logano wiggling, then sliding backwards and collecting other cars..

One of those drivers was Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson and Byron were competing as one of three drivers on the points bubble to make the playoffs. In the final stage of the race, Johnson sat four points above his teammate Byron as the last driver to make it into the postseason on points.  That crash forced the second of two late-laps red flags and an overtime race.

Byron led the field on the restart, keeping just ahead of Cup rookie Christopher Bell, who fell back before the checkered flag. Byron kept his pace in the final two laps through the checkered flag, eliminating the need for any position or points counting.

Chase Elliott finished in second and Denny Hamlin finished in third (full agate below).

“That’s awesome man,” Byron said on his radio. “Racing for a championship.”

“I had confidence in (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) and the guys that we could get four tires (on the last pit stop) and make the most of it, Byron said.  So, I’m just extremely blessed, and this is incredible," Byron said. "It’s been a hard couple of years in the Cup Series and trying to get my first win and gel with this team. These guys did an awesome job today and got us in the playoffs and it’s amazing.”

The first “Big One” came a few laps before the second “Bigger One.” With under 10 laps left, Cup rookie Tyler Reddick made a move from second place to pass Kyle Busch in the lead. Reddick passed too close and Busch checked up, forcing contact with Erik Jones directly behind him. Jones hit the wall and drivers running nearby in the field, including Kyle and Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Ryan Preece, were caught up in the wreck.

With minimal damage, Reddick restarted in the front row, but quickly fell behind Logano, who raced up to first. Reddick’s No. 8 car was collected in the second major wreck, as was Logano’s.

Despite Logano’s DNF, the No. 22 driver swept the first two stages, both of which were marked by aggressive moves at the green-and-white flags as drivers tried to gain points in a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs. Clint Bowyer was locked into the postseason after the first stage based on points, but he placed in a better position to close stage 2, in third. Meanwhile, Erik Jones, on the outskirts of the playoff bubble, was at a loss early despite a solid Stage 1 finish (second). He needed to win the race in order to continue in the championship hunt.

Matt DiBenedetto finished in 12th place and Johnson finished in 17th. DiBenedetto was the final driver to make it into the playoffs on points. Johnson raced hard to put himself in a strong position to point his way into the playoffs, but unfortunate positioning, timing and forces outside of his control took Johnson out of the race late.

Byron found himself mired deep in the field with less than 20 laps to go after he pitted for fresh tires during a caution. That turned out to be a great call. Byron was third before the pit stop and the team decided that fresh tires were worth the track position he had given up. That proved to be true.

Johnson had to miss a race due to a positive COVID-19 test.  He recovered quickly and came back the next race, but the loss of points for that one race kept him out of the playoffs.

The next to last caution brought the ire of other drivers including Roush Fenway driver Ryan Newman, who was one of the cars so damaged, the no. 6 Ford had to retire from the race.  Newman was not a happy fellow

“The 8-car obviously just ran out of talent,” Newman said of the two-time Xfinity Series champion. “It seems like you can win a couple of Xfinity championships and still stick your head where the sun don’t shine when the time comes right”.

Unofficial Results: 62nd Annual Coke Zero Sugar 400 Daytona International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 6, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 164, 7, , 5, 24, 5, 44, Running
2) 27, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 10, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 164, 9, , 3, 9, , 36, Running
4) 2, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 164, , 2, 4, 14, , 42, Running
5) 21, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 World Wide Technology Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 BodyArmor Ford, 164, 4, 9, 1, 1, , 40, Running
7) 8, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet, 164, , , 1, 1, , 30, Running
8) 40, * Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 Beard Motorsports/South Point Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 17, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 164, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 PIRTEK Ford, 164, , 6, 1, 1, , 32, Running
11) 24, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 Fire Alarm Services Ford, 164, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 15, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, 164, , 7, , , , 29, Running
13) 23, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Rheem/Johns Manville Toyota, 164, 6, 10, 1, 2, , 30, Running
14) 26, Michael McDowell, No. 34 CarParts.com Ford, 164, 8, , 1, 2, , 26, Running
15) 32, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 Remember Everyone Deployed Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 36, Ross Chastain(i), No. 77 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, 164, , , , , , 0, Running
17) 7, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 164, 5, 5, , , , 32, Running
18) 5, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfiled Hometown Original Ford, 164, , , 1, 1, , 19, Running
19) 14, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, 164, , 3, , , , 26, Running
20) 1, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 164, , , 3, 6, , 17, Running
21) 25, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Trump 2020 Ford, 163, , , , , , 16, Accident
22) 29, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 15, Accident
23) 34, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Good Greek Movers Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 35, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 161, , , , , , 0, Running
25) 12, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow VORASURF Chevrolet, 161, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 30, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 CommScope Toyota, 159, , , 1, 19, , 11, Accident
27) 3, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 158, 1, 1, 6, 36, 2, 30, Accident
28) 19, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, 158, , , , , , 9, Accident
29) 18, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 KCMG Chevrolet, 158, 3, , 1, 1, , 16, Accident
30) 16, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com/Autodesk Ford, 158, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 37, Joey Gase(i), No. 53 Sparks Ford, 158, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 31, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 155, , 8, , , , 8, Accident
33) 11, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 152, 10, , 3, 31, , 5, Accident
34) 13, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 151, , 4, 1, 1, , 10, Accident
35) 20, Erik Jones, No. 20 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 151, 2, , 2, 15, , 11, Accident
36) 22, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford, 151, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 28, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Bush's Beans Chevrolet, 151, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 39, * Josh Bilicki(i), No. 7 Ariens Chevrolet, 151, , , , , , 0, Running
39) 38, James Davison, No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford, 139, , , , , , 1, Accident
40) 33, JJ Yeley(i), No. 27 America Strong Chevrolet, 3, , , , , , 0, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 164 laps, 410 miles

Time of Race: 2 hr, 39 min, 59 sec
Average Speed: 153.766 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.119 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 20, 8, 12, 48, 95, 24, 34, 11, 18

Stage 2 Top 10: 22, 19, 14, 1, 48, 2, 21, 47, 12, 95

Race Comments: William Byron won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway, his first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty: No. 3 (Inspection Failure), No. 14 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Caution Flags: 6 for 21 laps;
Laps: 22-24 (Competition [53]);
52-55 (Stage 1 Conclusion [66]);
102-105 (Stage 2 Conclusion [15]);
144-147 (#51, 62 Incident Turn 3 [77]);
153-155 (#1, 8, 18, 6, 19, 20, 3, 47, 34, 37 Incident Turn 4 [Red: 00:10:13] [00]);
160-162 (#22, 42, 95, 8, 41, 21, 88, 96, 38, 48, 43 Incident Turn 1 [Red: 00:05:34] [34]).

Lead Changes: 35 among 16 drivers;
M. Truex Jr. 1;
K. Harvick 2-5;
W. Byron 6;
K. Harvick 7;
W. Byron 8-21;
A. Bowman 22;
A. Almirola 23;
W. Byron 24-28;
E. Jones 29-33;
W. Byron 34-35;
J. Logano 36-51;
R. Blaney 52;
B. Keselowski 53;
C. Bell # 54-55;
E. Jones 56-65;
K. Busch 66-71;
*. Suarez 72-90;
J. Logano 91-101;
M. Truex Jr. 102;
K. Harvick 103;
J. Logano 104-105;
M. Truex Jr. 106-111;
J. Logano 112;
M. Truex Jr. 113-118;
K. Busch 119-125;
J. Logano 126-130;
M. McDowell 131-132;
K. Busch 133-150;
K. Busch 151;
D. Hamlin 152-155;
T. Reddick # 156;
D. Hamlin 157;
J. Logano 158;
D. Hamlin 159-162;
W. Byron 163-164.

American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Michael McDowell, #34
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: John H. Nemechek, #38