The 2024 Daytona 500
This year's Daytona 500 was action packed. Three large crashes, daring moves, and a wild finish conclude the race a day later than the original scheduled date of Sunday, February 18th, 2024. The race was rescheduled to Monday, February 19th, 2024 due to rain on the racetrack and unsafe racing conditions.
Joey Logano started on the pole for the Daytona 500. The #22 Ford Mustang was fast all night long until he crashed in a later incident. Early on however, another Ford Mustang (#21) of Harrison Burton was turned along with a rookie of Carson Hocevar collecting many other drivers including 7-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson.
Hard racing all through the race. Besides the one crash early on in Stage 1, the rest of the first stage went caution free. Leading the field to the stage end was the driver of the #9 Chevrolet Camaro of Chase Elliott.
Stage 2 went caution free as well. Tons of good racing, three wide pushing all across the racetrack. Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Tyler Reddick looked very strong, but in the end, amidst all the intense battling, a last lap pass for the stage win led to the Ford Mustang of Ryan Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, grabbing the Stage 2 victory in the 2024 Daytona 500.
The final stage of the 2024 Daytona 500 saw three wide action, bumps gone wrong, chaos in the midst of all the pressure to win NASCAR’s most coveted prize. Coming down to the closing laps, drivers became aware of the pressure starting to pour around and over them. The pushes became harder to get themselves towards the front faster, leading to more hazardous moves made around other cars. With 9 laps to go, a push from the #48 Chevrolet Camaro of Alex Bowman onto his teammate of William Byron (#24) went wrong. Byron was sent into the inside lane causing in NASCAR what is known as, The Big One.
William Byron was sent into the #6 Ford Mustang of Brad Keselowski. Several drivers (23) were involved in the wreck including Chevrolet Camaro’s of Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez; Ford Mustang’s of Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney; and Toyota Camry’s of Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace and several more of each. The wreck took minutes to clean, causing the race to go under a red flag, pausing all cars, so clean up crews can take a chance to clean debris and carnage off the racing surface.
Once the red flag was lifted, pit stops had cycled and the race went back racing under green, it was intense from there on out. While causing and starting “The Big One,” Byron and Bowman were still up front and leading along with Ross Chastain and Corey Lajoie. Chase Elliott was also amongst those still competing for a chance to win until a wrongful block on Christopher Bell cause the #9 Chevrolet Camaro to lose ground and fall to the back of the field.
While two laps remained, several drivers still had a chance to win. Off of the final corner of the racetrack, Ross Chastain had a large run from a push and took advantage of it. Once he thought he was clear of the inside vehicle of Austin Cindric in a Ford Mustang, he dove his car to the inside. Chastain then clipped the #2 (Cindric) and they both went spinning into the infield grass causing the caution to come out on the final lap of the 2024 Daytona 500.
In NASCAR’s Rule Book, a race is completed at the next flag after the white flag (Final Lap) has been waived. Whether that be the caution flag, red flag, or checkered flag, the race will end under the next flag that waives after the white.
NASCAR determined in a very close finish that the 2024 Daytona 500 winner was the #24 of William Byron in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. His Teammate, Alex Bowman finishes 2nd, only .006 seconds behind Byron.
SOURCES
Nascar.com. "Big Wreck Wipes Out Most of the Field in Closing Laps of Daytona 500." NASCAR, 19 Feb. 2024, https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2024/02/19/big-wreck-wipes-out-most-of-field-in-closing-laps-of-daytona-500/.
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