HMS ace William Byron addresses the ‘conspiracy’ surrounding his Daytona 500 victory celebration

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron recently clinched the Daytona 500 title, winning the race in consecutive years. However, following his dramatic victory celebrations, he found himself at the center of bizarre conspiracy theories. Byron, though, has shut down all the allegations.

Fans noticed something odd during the celebration: Byron hitting the walls during his celebratory burnout. Many suggested that the #24 Chevy Camaro ZL1 team deliberately used the old 'crash-the-wall' tactic to avoid a possible rule violation. The speculation comes from teams getting involved in such scenarios in the past, including the Parker Kligerman incident.

The former Xfinity Series driver was disqualified after a post-race inspection detected an extremely low ride height, stripping him of his victory. Landon Cassill also once said that he had used a similar tactic to obscure his ride height and avoid disqualification.

However, Byron shut down all the speculations and denied all the allegations, calling himself "clumsy." In an interview with NASCAR analyst Bob Pockrass, he stated:

“Yeah, I haven’t looked at any of it… conspiracies that I hit the wall on purpose on my burnout. I’m just really clumsy." [00:05]

“Honestly, no, I haven’t looked at any social media. I feel like that’s the best way to go about things sometimes. It's just been so busy, but, um, Yeah, I'm soaking it all in, and you gotta enjoy every win, no matter how they happened," he added. [00:20]

The conspiracy theory gained quick attention because it instantly reminded the fans of the infamous case of the 2011 season. During a pre-race conversation, Jimmie Johnson was instructed by his crew chief, Chad Knaus, to "crack the back of the car" before the post-race inspection.

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William Byron compared his 2024 Daytona 500 victory with this year's win

Recently, two-time Daytona 500 champion, William Byron, was featured in an interview with SpeedwayDigest.com where he compared his two 500-mile race victories. In 2024, Byron dominated the field, leading the pack for most of the race. However, he lacked the same brilliance in this year's event.

Comparing his two victories at the Daytona 500, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native stated:

"Last year was kind of the opposite. We were always up front, and this year just wasn't that way. I felt like for us we were trying to stay positive, and I felt like each restart there at the end we were still optimistic about our chances to get forward." [via SpeedwayDigest.com]

Byron added that winning the most prestigious crown jewel event two times in a row was not just pure luck, emphasizing that it involved teamwork.

"Definitely fortunate but definitely a lot of teamwork," the #24 Chevy driver added.

Notably, William Byron became the second active driver, after Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, to win consecutive Daytona 500s.