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William Byron’s chance at a third straight Daytona 500 got a little trickier after the Duels.
William Byron has the opportunity to do something no one has ever done in NASCAR history. After winning the last two Daytona 500s, the driver of the #24 has the chance to become the first driver to win “The Great American Race” three straight times.
Unfortunately for the Hendrick Motorsports driver, his path got a little harder in Thursday night’s Duels at Daytona. On lap 57 of Duel 1, Byron was caught up in multi-car crash with, among others, Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon.
The wreck caused significant damage to Byron’s #24 Chevrolet and resulted in a 22nd-place finish. Byron be starting from the rear of the field in Sunday’s Daytona 500, not just based on his finish in the Duel, but because he’ll be going to a backup car.
William Byron on late-race incident in the Duel: ‘Just a bummer’
As Bubba Wallace maneuvered his #23 Toyota to the front of the pack in Thursday night’s opening Duel, he got a push from Austin Dillon in the #3. The push proved to be too much, causing the #23 to spin and cause chaos right in the middle of the pack.
When talking to FOX motorsports reporter Bob Pockrass, Byron walked through what he saw from his perspective. Running sixth at the time, Byron recalls Wallace getting “squirrelly” on the inside of the racetrack.
Byron, who was on the outside line, was then hit by Chris Buescher’s spinning #17 machine. The 28-year-old said he tried to gather the car up against the outside retaining wall, but it didn’t work.
“I kinda straightened it out up against the wall and then they [Buescher] hit me again, and it spun, so just a bummer,” Byron added.
Wallace and Dillon were able to finish the race, but Byron and Buescher weren’t as lucky. Byron posted a DNF of 22nd, while Buescher was scored with 23rd. Joey Logano, meanwhile, went on to win Duel 1.
William Byron not concerned about possible backup car
The extensive damage to Byron’s Raptor Chevrolet has forced his HMS team to go to a backup car for Sunday’s Daytona 500. However, the 16-time Cup Series winner isn’t concerned.
That’s because Byron won the 2024 Daytona 500 from a backup car after getting involved in a crash in the Duel race that year. Despite not being concerned, Byron was disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to show off what the primary care could do.
“We’ve won this race with a backup car, so I’m not super worried about that aspect, but it does suck that you put a lot of work into the primary and you don’t get to race it,” Byron said.
Chevrolet brought a new body to the NASCAR Cup Series circuit for this season, which is an updated version of the Camaro ZL1. When asked if he was able to learn anything about the new body in the race, Byron said he didn’t get much of a chance.
“I didn’t really push, or get pushed, as much as I would’ve liked. Honestly, it looked like a lot of the cars were just super unstable getting pushed and I noticed that from the beginning. It just seemed like guys were moving around a lot. My car felt fine, but I never got a chance to get up there and control it,” Byron said.
The Daytona 500 is set to take place on Sunday, February 15. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time and can be watched on FOX or listened to on the Motor Racing Network.
John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden
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