The 27-year-old Byron held on to win after two weather delays totaling more than three and a half hours, and with US president Donald Trump set to watch the rest of the race in Florida, after he earlier led drivers on two laps around the track in his heavily armored presidential limousine known in Washington as “The Beast.”.
Byron took advantage of another major mess on the final lap – Nascar did not drop the caution and let the field race to the finish – and took another, familiar burnout in Daytona International Speedway.
Thanks to one more crash, Byron used a clean ride on his final lap to escape the chaos and race to his second straight Daytona 500 victory.
It was sixth time in the last eight Daytona 500s the race spilled into overtime, setting up Byron to become the fifth driver to win it in consecutive years.
William Byron fortuitously missed the ferocious wrecks down the stretch at the Daytona 500 that knocked out contenders racing for the checkered flag and left him with a repeat victory in sight.
