This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
Quick hands to avoid the carnage, and a healthy dose of good fortune, led William Byron to a second consecutive Daytona 500 win late Sunday night. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was the first back-to-back winner of the "Great American Race" since Denny Hamlin accomplished the feat in 2019 and 2020. Ironically, it was Hamlin who was one of those battling for the win when an overtime crash sent the leaders spinning, leaving Byron to sneak through to the lead and the win. It was also the first victory of the week for Chevrolet, who had been locked out of Victory Lane in Thursday's Duels by Ford and Toyota. In fact, Byron's win gave Chevrolet the win in a race that was otherwise dominated by Ford. Team Penske teammates Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Austin Cindric battled at the front of the field throughout the race but didn't benefit from the same luck that Byron used to pick his way through the win as crashes began to take their toll late in the race. Losing the victory will feel like an opportunity missed for the blue oval brand.
Byron's victory starts the season off in the best possible way for the No. 24 team. The win is not only one of the biggest prizes of the season, but it also gives Byron the first of 16 playoff spots that will give him another chance at his first series championship. Just like last season, the early victory removes significant pressure throughout the long season, allowing Byron and team to focus on preparing for the 10-race playoffs and a potential race for the title at Phoenix. Last season, all three of Byron's wins came in the first 11 races of the season. This year, he and the team will be working hard to extend that winning form all the way to the season finale in November.
UPGRADE
William Byron - Byron started Sunday's Daytona 500 in the top five and raced there for most of the day, scoring stage points in the first segment before winning the race. Most importantly, Byron avoided the race's several crashes, making sure he was confidently in the top 10 for the final miles. Luck came into play as the night's dominant cars began to suffer damage in crashes, and taking the high line in the final overtime crash was the last good fortune Byron needed to sneak through to the win. He successfully escaped the crashing leaders and led Tyler Reddick to the checkered flag to score the first points win of the season for the second year in a row. Focus for the No. 24 team now shifts to the next few races and especially Phoenix, as the team begins preparations for what they hope will be a run through the playoffs all the way to another championship finale appearance in Phoenix.
Ryan Blaney - True to form, Blaney was one of the drivers to beat in Sunday's superspeedway affair. The Team Penske driver started outside of the top 15 but quickly established himself as a fixture in the top five. He picked up stage points in the first segment before winning the second stage, and led 23 laps before being caught up in a crash with less than 20 laps remaining. When all seemed lost, Blaney nursed his car back to pit road where his team made repairs and got him back on track and on the lead lap. An overtime finish and one final wreck among the leaders was enough for Blaney to step his way through the debris and collect a seventh-place finish, giving him some reward for the strength on display. The effort wasn't the win the No. 12 squad would have preferred, but it is enough to put them at the top of the points leaving Daytona and looking ahead to Atlanta. Blaney won there in 2021 and finished second and third in last season's stops at the track.
Austin Cindric - A second Daytona 500 win appeared within reach late Sunday night for Cindric, but aggressive racing at the front of the field caused a crash that swept up the No. 2 machine in its wake. Despite the crash, Cindric still finished the race in eighth position, and he led the most laps in the race at 59. His points from the second stage and the top-10 race finish put him third in the early standings behind only William Byron and teammate Ryan Blaney. In a year where Cindric is working to become a consistent contender for race wins, Sunday's start was an excellent first step. Even better news is that Atlanta's superspeedway is up next. Cindric's strength Sunday at Daytona could be a good indicator of his potential this coming week. Since 2022, Cindric has not finished lower than 12th at the 1.5-mile oval and both visits last season produced top-10 starts and finishes.
Tyler Reddick - A runner-up finish is a great way for Reddick to start the 2025 season as he hopes to race for the championship again at the end of the year. Last year, Reddick advanced all the way to the championship finale before finishing fourth among the remaining contenders at Phoenix. Coming so close means this year's goal can only be to win it all. Sunday's second-place finish is a good start, too. Toyota had single-car speed throughout the week at Daytona, but their ability to push in the pack meant it was more difficult for drivers like Reddick to race at the front consistently. However, Reddick made the most of what he had and bit of luck with the final crash enabled him to score his first top-five of the season and best Daytona finish since 2022. He now heads to Atlanta, where he finished sixth last fall, fourth in the standings and brimming with confidence for what he hopes could be a championship year.
Joey Logano - Despite some significant problems, Logano's No. 22 Team Penske Ford was still the class of the field. The defending champion came out swinging in his title defense, winning the first stage of Sunday's race before throttle trouble struck. Multiple trips to pit road to diagnose and fix the issue required significant and valiant work from the team, who replaced the ECU, throttle body, and air box, enabling Logano to return to speed, working his way back onto the lead lap and into the top five with a shot at the win. Despite the problems, Logano led 43 laps in the race, second only to teammate Austin Cindric, and was within reach of the win when he collided with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with less than 20 laps remaining. While the finish wasn't what Logano and team wanted, they can take solace in the fact that they appear to have a dominant car early in the season with another superspeedway race on tap this coming weekend.
DOWNGRADE
Kyle Busch - Busch's 20th Daytona 500 start was not the long-awaited victory he was dreaming of. Despite having a fast car, Busch was involved in two accidents, the second of which put an end to his race. The Richard Childress Racing veteran started Sunday's race outside of the top 20 but found his way into the top 10 and established himself as a contender, scoring stage points in the second segment. While racing at the front with less than 20 laps remaining, he was caught up in contact between Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Afterward, Busch was critical of Logano's move and resulting crash that damaged several cars and ended several driver's nights. Last season was the first time Busch failed to visit Victory Lane in a season since 2004. He missed the playoffs and won't want that to happen again. Atlanta could help in that quest, though. Busch finished third and seventh there last season.
Ross Chastain - Despite a top-10 starting spot, Chastain failed to scored stage points and was one of the first cars out of Sunday's race due to a crash less than 100 laps into the race. The 40th-place effort left him with just one point for the day and eight for the season by virtue of his finish in the duels. It definitely was not the start to the season he or Trackhouse Racing was hoping for, and now they can only put Sunday behind them and move forward to recover the ground already lost. At Atlanta, Chastain's best result was a pair of runner-up finishes in 2022. He led 13 laps in last fall's race and finished 13th. He finished seventh in the spring event and will be hoping to replicate that performance to move past Daytona's poor outcome. Trackhouse and Chastain are still looking for improvement in 2025. They missed the playoffs and finished 19th in the standings with one victory last season, and they expect more in 2025.
Kyle Larson - Larson spent much of the build up to Sunday's Daytona 500 as one of the favorites to win. However, results on superspeedways haven't come as easily to Larson as at other tracks. Avoiding crashes and making it to the finish in contention have been his struggle. The same trend prevailed Sunday, too. Larson started outside of the top 20 and failed to score stage points in either of the race's opening segments. When the finish neared, Larson was still in the mix, but he was one of many caught up in the overtime crash that decided the race. While it could be considered a step forward for him to have made it that far, consistently running at the front and out of trouble would have been better. He and the team will quickly put this behind them, but fantasy players need to keep this in mind at superspeedways, and this week's trip to Atlanta may be more of the same. Larson hasn't finished in the top 30 at the track since 2022.
Josh Berry - Berry made the move to Wood Brothers Racing for the 2025 season, but that didn't change his fortune at Daytona. Sunday was his fourth series start at the track, and his early crash left him with yet another finish outside of the top 20. It was the second time in a row he exited a race at Daytona early due to a wreck, and his average result from four Daytona tries now stands at 27.5. While the Wood Brothers organization has won races, those have been few and far between, and the small organization tends to be eclipsed by the larger behemoths of the sport. They made the playoffs last season with Harrison Burton's fall Daytona win, but that is going to be very tough for Berry to replicate in his first year in the No. 21 machine. Consistently finishing is where this pairing needs to start, and as Berry gets more comfortable and familiar with the team, progress will come.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
Jimmie Johnson - Johnson's unlikely third-place finish in Sunday's Daytona 500 was a just reward for his part-time effort. First, Johnson's single-car qualifying effort was fast enough to guarantee him a spot in the 500. That weight off of his shoulders meant he and the team could then get to work preparing the best possible package for Sunday without having to worry about whether or not they would be able to race their way in. Then, executing consistently throughout Sunday's distance enabled the team to gamble on track position during late pit stops. That gamble put Johnson inside the top 10 only for it all to seemingly slip away when he was blocked in on a subsequent stop, forcing him backward again. However, Johnson remained in position to capitalize, and the overtime crash that took out the leaders spared the No. 84. Johnson cruised through the wreck to drive home third in his best ever finish in the current generation of car.
