William Byron's 2025 Daytona 500 odds: Breaking down the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s potential

NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron secured his 11th career win last year when he crossed the checkered flag at the Daytona 500 to win the event. Byron, driving Hendrick Motorsports' #24 car, will return to the grid this weekend as the defending champion, aiming to secure a back-to-back finish at the 'Great American Race'.

So far, Denny Hamlin has been the only driver to have achieved that feat in recent history, winning the Daytona 500 in 2019 and 2020. This will be the HMS #24 driver's eighth entry into the 500-mile race at the Daytona International Speedway.

Apart from his win at the 2024 running of the race, Byron hasn't seen a single top-10 finish at the Daytona 500 during his time racing in the Cup Series. His first entry into the race in 2018 saw him with a starting position of 33rd place, but when he crossed the line, he was 23rd.

In 2019, William Byron secured his first-ever pole position in his career but finished the race in 21st place after leading 44 laps and securing a runner-up position at the end of Stage 2. The next year, he secured a starting position of fourth on the grid, but after facing an accident, his final position was dead last, finishing the race in 40th place.

In the following season, the now 27-year-old qualified in the runner-up spot, but once again had a mid-field finish of 26th. In 2022 and 2023, the driver would see finishes of 38th and 34th place, after having starting positions of 23rd and 21st. However, those finishes were also a result of accidents faced by the driver causing him to end his race so low in the standings.

Currently, BetMGM has the HMS driver's odds at +1800 and DraftKings has him at +2000, indicating Byron will be going into the Daytona 500 as an underdog as he tries to secure his 14th Cup Series race win and his second Harley J. Earl trophy.

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Team Hendrick shares a look at William Byron's title-defending livery

William Byron drives the #24 car, which has seen victory at the Daytona 500 thrice piloted by Hendrick Motorsports' Vice Chairman and four-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Jeff Gordon.

Until 2001, Gordon's #24 car would feature a rainbow-themed livery, giving him the title 'Rainbow Warrior'. But, for what would become Gordon's fourth title-winning year, he would come to the track with a flamed paint scheme, marking the first major change to his livery since his beginnings in the sport in 1993.

For the 2025 Daytona 500, Byron will bring those flames back. In a post shared earlier today, the Hendrick team showed off Byron's 'Great American Race' livery, captioned:

"Daytona title defense starts now."

The Daytona 500 featuring William Byron and others takes place on February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on Fox Sports with radio coverage by MRN and SiriusXM.