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
Davison scores 26 points, Branham adds 23 and Osceola records 23 steals to open its season with a victory at Silver Spurs Arena.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — The Osceola Magic opened their season with a record-setting defensive performance, collecting 23 steals and forcing 35 turnovers in a 97-89 victory over the Oklahoma City Blue on Sunday, Nov. 8, at Silver Spurs Arena.
JD Davison scored a game-high 26 points and Malaki Branham added 23 as Osceola established a franchise record for steals and matched its record for opponent turnovers. Osceola Magic
Defense drives the comeback
Oklahoma City led 31-22 after the first quarter and 44-43 at halftime. Osceola pulled even at 70 entering the fourth quarter, then outscored the Blue 27-19 over the final period.
The victory gave Osceola a 1-0 start and dropped Oklahoma City to 0-2. Zhaire Smith led the Blue with 19 points, while Christoph Tilly contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds. gleague.nba.com
Osceola’s defensive pressure helped offset Oklahoma City’s early advantage. The Blue finished just 5 of 29 from 3-point range, shooting 17.2%.
Six Magic players recorded multiple steals, led by Johnell Davis’ career-high six — one short of the franchise record. Davison collected four, Jarron Cumberland had three, and Ace Baldwin Jr., Branham and Mike Sharavjamts each added two.
Malaki Branham leans into his drive while keeping his dribble low as an Oklahoma City Blue defender guards him during the Osceola Magic’s season opener. Photo by Bernie Walls / Florida National News.
Davison and Branham lead the offense
Davison and Branham combined for 49 points, accounting for more than half of Osceola’s scoring.
Au’Diese Toney contributed 14 points in his return to Osceola, including a late 3-pointer that helped secure the victory.
Davis provided another boost off the bench with 11 points and a career-best-tying four assists, complementing his disruptive defensive performance.
Sharavjamts makes professional debut
Sharavjamts posted a team-best plus-12 rating in 24 minutes during his professional debut. Osceola outscored Oklahoma City by 12 points while he was on the floor. Osceola Magic
What’s next for the Osceola Magic?
Following a scheduled road matchup with the Memphis Hustle on Tuesday, Nov. 10, Osceola returns to Silver Spurs Arena to host the Mexico City Capitanes on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. Eastern. Member News
The Magic’s challenge will be to sustain the defensive pressure that helped them overcome an early nine-point deficit in the opener.
NEW YORK CITY, NY (FNN SPORTS) – LIV Golf plans to begin winding down operations Monday, Nov. 9, following five years and more than $5 billion in spending.
Attorney Matthew Williams outlined the league’s plans during a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday, Nov. 5, in New Jersey. The process includes selling its remaining assets.
“We believe the wind down path is the best path,” Williams told the court.
LIV Golf confirmed the decision after a proposed restructuring deal fell through. The league said it will continue considering alternatives during the shutdown process.
TAMPA, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) — On Monday November 2, at the Yuengling Center, the South Florida women’s basketball team opened with a successful debut undernew head coach Kristy Curry.
The Bulls established control early with a 9–0 opening run, taking a 27–12 lead after the first quarter. Furman narrowed the margin before halftime, but South Florida maintained a 46–32 advantage heading into the break.
A dominant third quarter proved decisive, as USF outscored Furman 23–9 to extend its lead to 69–41 entering the fourth.
Balanced Scoring Leads the Bulls
Stefanie Ingram led South Florida with 15 points, followed by Hannah Kohn with 13 and Kendall Puryear with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Bulls placed six players in double figures, shot 51.6 percent from the field and controlled the boards with a 48–25 rebounding advantage.
A Winning Debut for Kristy Curry
The victory marked Curry’s first win leading South Florida after arriving from Alabama.
Ahead of the season opener, Curry expressed confidence in the program’s potential:
“I’m so excited to be here. I truly think the sky’s the limit at USF.”
— Kristy Curry, USF Head Coach, in pregame remarks published by USF Athletics.
South Florida (1–0) will face Belmont on Friday, November 6, in Nashville, Tennessee.
– Nisey Spruill is a reporter and photojournalist for Florida National News (FNN), covering major news, sports and special events across Florida and nationwide. Contact sports@FloridaNationalNews.com
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