William Byron won his second straight Daytona 500 after a last-lap wreck took out race leader Denny Hamlin on the backstretch.

Byron took over the lead when Hamlin went spinning after taking the lead from Austin Cindric on the backstretch on the final lap of a green-white-checker restart.

The finish was set up by a crash with less than five laps to go when Christopher Bell got turned by Cole Custer when Bell was alongside his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin for the lead. Bell went into the wall and Preece’s car catapulted off Bell’s car and flipped over before backing into the wall.

The wins are Byron’s only two finishes in the event better than No. 21.

– Nick Bromberg

Daytona 500 TV/streaming schedule

All times Eastern

Sunday
2:30-6 p.m.: Daytona 500 (Fox, Fox Sports app)

Daytona 500 race details

Track: Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile high-banked tri-oval) in Daytona Beach, Florida
Banking: Turns – 31 degrees | Tri-oval – 18 degrees | Backstretch – 3 degrees
Race length: 200 laps for 500 miles
Stage lengths: Stage 1 – 65 laps | Stage 2 – 65 laps | Stage 3 – 70 laps

Daytona 500 starting lineup

1. No. 19 Chase Briscoe

2. No. 2 Austin Cindric

3. No. 23 Bubba Wallace

4. No. 43 Erik Jones

5. No. 24 William Byron

6. No. 17 Chris Buescher

7. No. 10 Ty Dillon

8. No. 11 Denny Hamlin

9. No. 1 Ross Chastain

10. No. 22 Joey Logano

11. No. 45 Tyler Reddick

12. No. 01 Corey LaJoie

13. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger

14. No. 34 Todd Gilliland

15. No. 3 Austin Dillon

16. No. 12 Ryan Blaney

17. No. 9 Chase Elliott

18. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek

19. No. 40 Justin Allgaier

20. No. 20 Christopher Bell

21. No. 8 Kyle Busch

22. No. 5 Kyle Larson

23. No. 54 Ty Gibbs

24. No. 35 Riley Herbst

25. No. 71 Michael McDowell

26. No. 88 Shane van Gisbergen

27. No. 60 Ryan Preece

28. No. 51 Cody Ware

29. No. 4 Josh Berry

30. No. 41 Cole Custer

31. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

32. No. 4 Noah Gragson

33. No. 77 Carson Hocevar

34. No. 6 Brad Keselowski

35. No. 7 Justin Haley

36. No. 99 Daniel Suarez

37. No. 38 Zane Smith

38. No. 48 Alex Bowman

39. No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.

40. No. 84 Jimmie Johnson

41. No. 91 Helio Castroneves

Daytona 500 qualifying format

The biggest race on the NASCAR calendar also features a unique qualifying format not used on any other race weekend. On Wednesday night all entered cars will turn one lap at top speed, the order of which is determined by a Tuesday night draw of numbers. The top 10 drivers then go into a shootout with the top two times from that session setting the front row for Sunday’s race.

The remaining cars are dropped — as evenly as possible, along with the top two qualifiers — into two 60-lap qualifying “duels” to be run Thursday night that set the field from spots three through 40. The finishing order for the first duel determines the inside row slots and the finishing order from the second duel sets the outside.

Top drivers and best bets for the Daytona 500

Restrictor plate racing presents a randomizing element that makes handicapping the results challenging, and that’s reflected in BetMGM’s odds. Three drivers enter the week with identical 12-to-1 odds and 10 drivers come in at 20-to-1 or better.

Best odds to win the 67th Daytona 500

Ryan Blaney +1200
Joey Logano +1200
Brad Keselowski +1200
Kyle Busch +1400
Denny Hamlin +1500

Hélio Castroneves in the field; Jimmie Johnson attempts to qualify

Due to a new rule this year, a provisional is granted for a “world-class driver” who does not run the Cup series full time to join the field for any event as the 41st car. Teams must put in the request at least 90 days ahead of time and only Trackhouse Racing did so on behalf of four-time Indianapolis 500 champion Hélio Castroneves. Castroneves will still attempt to qualify for the race and if he posts one of the top 40 times, there will be only 40 cars running on Sunday. If he doesn’t make it on time, the Daytona 500 will have its largest field in 10 years.

Seven-time series champion and winner of the 2006 and 2013 Daytona 500s Jimmie Johnson will attempt to make the field in a third entry for the Legacy Motor Club team that he owns. Johnson, 49, has run in the event twice since retiring from full-time racing in 2020, with a best finish of 28th.