Sports
William Byron wins DAYTONA 500 under caution after frenetic next-to-last lap
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron gave team owner Rick Hendrick something extra to celebrate in the 40th anniversary year of Hendrick Motorsports.
2024 Daytona 500 Winner William Byron celebrates his victory at Daytona International Speedway, Monday, February 19, 2024. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
In a frantic scramble after a restart on Lap 197 of 200 in the DAYTONA 500, Byron reached the finish line and took the white flag moments before NASCAR called the fifth caution of the evening as Ross Chastain slid wildly through the infield grass off the bumper of Austin Cindric’s Ford.
Alex Bowman was a close second to his teammate at the moment of caution, giving Hendrick a 1-2 finish and the organization’s first victory in the Great American Race since Jimmie Johnson beat teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the stripe in 2013.
NASCAR young rising star William Byron burned some rubber to celebrate his Daytona 500 win at Daytona International Speedway, Monday, February 19, 2024. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
The victory was Hendrick’s ninth in the DAYTONA 500, tying the company with Petty Enterprises for most in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series most prestigious event. The race was postponed from Sunday to Monday because of heavy rains during the weekend.
“I’m just a kid from racing on computers and winning the Daytona 500,” said the 26-year-old Byron, who picked up the 11th victory of his career and his second at Daytona, the first coming in the 2020 summer race at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
“I can’t believe it. I wish my dad was here. He’s sick, but this is for him, man. We’ve been through so much, and we sat up in the grandstands together and watched the race (when Byron was younger). This is so freaking cool.”
AXALTA driver William Byron and Daytona International Speedway President Frank Kelleher lifts the Daytona 500 trophy at victory lane, Monday, February 19, 2024. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
Hendrick could barely contain his elation in Victory Lane.
“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better,” he said. “When we thought about coming down here the first time, we didn’t think we should be here, felt so out of place.
“We win this on our 40th to the day, it’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”
Before the final restart, Chastain was racing at the front of the field on Lap 192 when a bump from Alex Bowman got Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron out of shape and knocked Byron into the right rear of Brad Keselowski’s Ford.
Keselowski turned up the track into the Ford of Joey Logano, who had led a race-high 45 laps to that point. Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney’s Ford was among the 23 cars involved in the accident that left string of mangled vehicles strewn along the backstretch.
The wreck knocked Blaney, Keselowski and Logano out of the race, along with Tyler Reddick, defending race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez and Todd Gilliland. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15 minutes 27 seconds for track clean-up.
“Speedway racing again,” Logano said ruefully. “It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me, but just couldn’t make it work.”
2024 Daytona 500 champion William Byron explain what lead to the crash during a press conference at Daytona International Speedway, Monday, February 19, 2024. Photo by J Willie David, III / Florida National News
“Obviously, hate what happened on that backstretch,” Byron said of the accident. “I just got pushed and got sideways. But so proud of this team, whole AXALTA team, 40th anniversary to the day, on Monday.
“Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, and we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start, obviously.”
How much Byron has yet to prove is debatable. He won a series-best six races last year, qualified for the Championship 4 and finished third in the final standings.
The race was not quite five laps old when an eight-car accident off Turn 4 started the inevitable attrition. Contact from Keselowski’s Ford in a tightly bunched line of the outside knocked the Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek into the center lane and into the side of Harrison Burton’s Ford.
Burton slid toward the infield, collecting the Chevrolet of Sunoco rookie Carson Hocevar. Burton’s No. 21 Mustang shot up the track and slammed into the Ford of Kaz Grala and the Chevrolet of Austin Dillon. Behind Dillon, Hocevar careened into the path of seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson, who couldn’t avoid the collision.
The wreck eliminated the cars of Burton, Hocevar and Grala. Dillon took his No. 3 Chevy to the garage for extensive repairs, and Johnson lost two laps on pit road as his Legacy Motor Club crew worked frantically to repair his Camry.
“I don’t remember exactly who it was on my outside,” Burton said after a trip to the infield care center. “It just looked like they either got a bad push or got loose and just hit me in the right side and sent me across.
“The grass was so wet that once I got in the grass, I thought I’d be OK, but the car just kept going and going… so really sad that our day is over as quick as it was. We had a really fast Ford. It’s just a bummer. There’s nothing we can do but just move on and try to win next week.”
It took 187 more laps of racing before the colossal wreck that dwarfed the earlier incident thinned the field and set up the fight to the finish among the cars that survived.
In a race that featured 41 lead changes among 20 drivers, Christopher Bell ran third, followed by Corey LaJoie, Bubba Wallace and AJ Allmendinger. Chastain, who didn’t have quite enough room when he dived to the inside of Cindric on the penultimate lap, finished 21st, one spot ahead of Cindric.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – DAYTONA 500
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida
Sunday, February 18, 2024
1. (18) William Byron, Chevrolet, 200.
2. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 200.
3. (4) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 200.
4. (29) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 200.
5. (24) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 200.
6. (28) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 200.
7. (10) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 200.
8. (11) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200.
9. (38) Noah Gragson, Ford, 200.
10. (20) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 200.
11. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200.
12. (34) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 200.
13. (14) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 200.
14. (5) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 200.
15. (27) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 200.
16. (37) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200.
17. (15) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 200.
18. (19) Chris Buescher, Ford, 200.
19. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200.
20. (40) David Ragan, Ford, 200.
21. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 199.
22. (6) Austin Cindric, Ford, 199.
23. (25) Ryan Preece, Ford, 199.
24. (36) Riley Herbst(i), Ford, 199.
25. (30) Josh Berry #, Ford, 199.
26. (22) Justin Haley, Ford, 199.
27. (39) Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, 198.
28. (23) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, 196.
29. (3) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, Accident, 192.
30. (32) Ryan Blaney, Ford, Accident, 192.
31. (35) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 192.
32. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 191.
33. (16) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 191.
34. (13) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 191.
35. (31) Todd Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 191.
36. (2) Michael McDowell, Ford, 176.
37. (33) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 146.
38. (26) Kaz Grala #, Ford, Accident, 5.
39. (12) Harrison Burton, Ford, Accident, 5.
40. (9) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, Accident, 5.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 157.178 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 10 Mins, 52 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 41 among 20 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano 1;M. McDowell 2;J. Logano 3;M. McDowell 4;J. Logano 5-8;C. Bell 9-30;R. Blaney 31-39;M. McDowell 40-43;J. Berry # 44;C. Elliott 45-54;B. Wallace 55;N. Gragson 56-60;*. Ragan 61-62;K. Busch 63-64;C. Elliott 65-67;B. Keselowski 68;K. Larson 69-71;J. Logano 72-92;T. Gilliland 93-108;K. Busch 109-113;K. Larson 114-117;A. Cindric 118-122;K. Busch 123;A. Cindric 124-128;K. Busch 129;R. Blaney 130-132;B. Keselowski 133-134;A. Cindric 135-136;B. Wallace 137;A. Cindric 138;B. Wallace 139;A. Allmendinger(i) 140-148;K. Busch 149-150;C. LaJoie 151;D. Hamlin 152;K. Busch 153;D. Hamlin 154-162;J. Logano 163-180;R. Chastain 181-185;D. Suarez 186-187;R. Chastain 188-196;W. Byron 197-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Joey Logano 5 times for 45 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 22 laps; Todd Gilliland 1 time for 16 laps; Ross Chastain 2 times for 14 laps; Austin Cindric 4 times for 13 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 13 laps; Kyle Busch 6 times for 12 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 12 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 10 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 1 time for 9 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 7 laps; Michael McDowell 3 times for 6 laps; Noah Gragson 1 time for 5 laps; William Byron 1 time for 4 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 3 laps; Bubba Wallace 3 times for 3 laps; * David Ragan 1 time for 2 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 2 laps; Corey LaJoie 1 time for 1 lap; Josh Berry # 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,5,1,48,24,8,11,23,19,99
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,2,99,8,45,24,23,47,16,17
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Florida National News) – The Jacksonville Jaguars (2-1) beat the New England Patriots (1-2) 35-6 at EverBank Stadium today. The Jaguars have now won six consecutive home games dating back to November 16, 2025. The Jaguars lost their nine game regular season winning streak last week in Denver with their 20-13 loss to the Broncos.
The first quarter was a defensive battle, highlighted by the Jaguars sacking Patriots QB Drake Maye to force a fumble, which was recovered by NT DaVon Hamilton. But neither team put points on the board.
Early in the second quarter, Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence found WR Josh Cameron in the end zone for a 12 yard touchdown, followed by K Cam Little’s extra point, to put the Jags ahead 7-0. Soon after, it looked as though Maye had scrambled into the end zone for a 21 yard touchdown run, but that play was nullified by an offensive holding penalty by Patriots RT Morgan Moses. They did manage to score on a 35 yard field goal by K Andy Borregales, to narrow their deficit to 7-3. But the Jags extended their lead as Lawrence completed a 10 yard pass for WR Jakobi Meyers’ 25th career touchdown pass. That was also Lawrence’s 104th passing touchdown of his career, moving him past QB Blake Bortles for sole possession of second place on the Jaguars all-time list. QB Mark Brunell currently holds the team record with 144. After Little’s extra point, the Jags were up 14-3. The Patriots came close to scoring late in the second quarter, but Jaguars CB Travis Hunter had his first career interception, grabbing a pass by Maye intended for WR Efton Chism III in the end zone. The Jaguars gave Cam Little an opportunity to break his own NFL regular season record with a 70 yard field goal attempt, but it went wide right. The score remained 14-3 at the half.
Travis Hunter’s First Career Interception. (Photo Credit Arthur “Dell” Morgan)
On the Patriots first drive of the third quarter, Borregales attempted a 38 yard field goal, but it went wide right. Late in the quarter, Lawrence completed a 17 yard touchdown pass to WR Parker Washington, followed by Little’s XP, extending the lead to 21-3. As the Patriots took possession, Jaguars CB Jarrian Jones intercepted a Drake Maye pass intended for WR Kyle Williams. On the next play, RB Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran for a five yard touchdown. After another Little XP, the Jags were up 28-3 at the end of the third.
Early in the fourth quarter, Borregales redeemed himself with a 40 yard field goal, but the Pats remained down 28-6. The Jags added to their lead as RB Bhayshul Tuten ran for a 1 yard touchdown, and with Little’s extra point they finished the game up 35-6.
Trevor Lawrence finished with 182 passing yards and 3 TDs. Bhayshul Tuten led the Jaguars’ rushing with 73 yards and 1 TD. Jakobi Meyers was the leading receiver with 64 yards and 1 TD.
The Jaguars will be on the road for the month of October. They face the Bengals in Cincinnati on Sunday, October 4th at 1:00 p.m. Their next two games will be across the pond in London, where they’ll play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, October 11th at 9:30 a.m. EST at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the Houston Texans on Sunday, October 18th at 9:30 a.m. EST at Wembley Stadium. The Jaguars have a bye for NFL Week 7, then return home to host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, November 1st at 1:00 p.m. at EverBank Stadium. Be sure to follow www.FloridaNationalNews.com for more.
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TAMPA, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ home opener ended in disappointment Sunday as the Cleveland Browns handed Tampa Bay a 23-19 loss, dropping the Buccaneers to 0-2 to start the season.
The Buccaneers had opportunities to take control but were hurt by penalties, missed tackles and an inability to consistently finish drives in the end zone. A weather delay late in the game added another challenge, but Tampa Bay players and coaches refused to use the conditions as an excuse.
Bowles: ‘Nobody Is Coming to Save Us’
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles pointed directly to Tampa Bay’s mistakes after the loss.
“Too many penalties, offensively. Too many missed tackles in the second half, defensively,” Bowles said. “Nobody is coming to save us. We have to fix ourselves and we have to fix it in a hurry.”
Bowles repeated that message when discussing the team’s 0-2 start, saying the Buccaneers have faced adversity before but now must respond quickly.
“We’ve dealt with adversity before. This is an adverse situation again,” Bowles said. “We’re 0-2 right now and we have to pull ourselves up by our boots, and we’ve got to win.”
Defensively, Bowles said missed tackles contributed to Cleveland’s success, including a touchdown by Browns wide receiver Denzel Boston after two Tampa Bay defenders collided and failed to make the tackle.
Mayfield Frustrated by Missed Opportunities
Quarterback Baker Mayfield said Tampa Bay’s inability to convert opportunities in the red zone proved costly. The Buccaneers settled for field goals instead of touchdowns and struggled with negative plays.
Mayfield said the frustration comes from knowing how close the offense is to producing better results.
“I’m frustrated because it’s close. You can feel it. You can see it,” Mayfield said. “We’re moving the ball at times, and then just shooting ourselves in the foot.”
He added that the Buccaneers must become more self-critical and stop repeating the same mistakes.
Asked how surprised he was to see Tampa Bay begin the season with consecutive losses, Mayfield did not hide his reaction.
“Pretty shocked,” Mayfield said. “But, that’s where we’re at, so [we have to] fight our way out.”
Late Weather Delay Adds to Dramatic Finish
The game was also disrupted by a late weather delay. Bowles said both teams faced the same circumstances and rejected the delay as an excuse for Tampa Bay’s performance.
“They were doing the same thing. That’s not an excuse,” Bowles said. “We were ready to play.”
Left tackle Tristan Wirfs was more critical of the timing. He said players worked to stay loose, warm and hydrated during the interruption.
“I thought it was ridiculous with two minutes left in the game to call a lightning delay from ten miles away,” Wirfs said. “But, I don’t make the rules.”
Buccaneers Say They Beat Themselves
Wide receiver Ted Hurst III said Cleveland did not do anything defensively that made Tampa Bay incapable of moving the football.
“I feel like nobody can stop our offense — it’s just self-evaluating, doing your job and doing it to the best of your ability,” Hurst said.
Asked directly whether it felt like the Buccaneers beat themselves, Hurst responded, “Yeah, I would say that.”
Linebacker Alex Anzalone offered a similarly direct assessment of the Buccaneers’ position after two games.
“We’re in a bit of a hole. We’ve gotta dig ourselves out of it,” Anzalone said. He said the process begins with Wednesday’s practice and correcting the mistakes that have contributed to Tampa Bay’s winless start.
Irving: ‘We Are Going to Get This Thing Fixed’
Running back Bucky Irving urged the Buccaneers to follow the NFL’s traditional 24-hour approach — evaluate the loss, learn from it and move forward.
Irving said he is not concerned about outside criticism and views the early struggles as adversity the team can learn from.
“Let’s just learn from this game and move on to the [Minnesota] Vikings,” Irving said. “We are going to get this thing fixed in no time.”
The Buccaneers now face an early-season test: correct the penalties, improve tackling, finish drives with touchdowns and find a way out of an 0-2 hole.
