“Just continuing to do what we do”: William Byron sets the tone for 2025 season with Daytona 500 victory

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron has kicked off his 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign with a prestigious Daytona 500 victory, setting the tone for the remainder of the season. Following the win, Byron expressed his confidence in his #24 HMS Chevrolet team and stated his desire to keep doing what they are doing in the upcoming season.

After some brilliant maneuvering in NASCAR overtime, Byron won his second straight Daytona 500 win at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday (February 16). He took full advantage of Cole Custer’s last-lap wreck on the backstretch and escaped the multi-car wreck at full speed to take the first checkered flag of the season.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio about what the 2025 Daytona 500 means to him, Byron expressed confidence in his team’s position in securing a playoff spot with an early victory, emphasizing the advantage of knowing they are locked in the postseason.

“I mean, makes the season a lot easier. You know, we're locked in the playoffs, and we know what to expect, you know, with the next month and kind of how that goes. And I feel like our team is really mature, and that's kind of been the motto lately, is just we have our process. We know what we're doing. We've been there and done that. And for us, it's just continuing to do what we do,” William Byron said.

In 2024, the #24 driver secured all three of his Cup victories in the first 11 races and failed to continue the winning momentum in the rest of the season. However, this year after the Daytona 500 win, he is hoping to improve it and maintain the winning momentum throughout the season.

“There's some things we want to improve this year and we'll go to work on those things as the weeks progress here because there's a lot of season left,” the HMS driver continued.

---

“Just trusted my instincts”: William Byron describes his last lap win in overtime at Daytona

William Byron surpassed the chaos during the last lap of the 2025 Daytona 500 and crossed the finish line 0.113 seconds ahead of Tyler Reddick in overtime to take the checkered flag. The split-second decision and luck gave him the victory at Daytona.

Reflecting on his strategic decision-making on the last lap, Byron said (via NASCAR.com):

“Yeah, obviously some good fortune, but just trusted my instincts on the last lap there. I felt like they were getting squirrelly on the bottom, and I was honestly going to go third (top) lane regardless because I was probably sixth coming down the back. Just obviously fortunate that it worked out in our favor.”

William Byron is now the fifth driver to win two consecutive Daytona 500s and the first driver since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020.