At long last, it’s finally time to get the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season officially underway! And what better to kick it off than the 67th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500? We had a sold-out crowd in attendance as well as the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. All the stories of Speedweeks (and the Clash, if you count it) finally came to ahead! So, with no further ado, let’s break it down! Here’s everything that happened in the 67th running of the Daytona 500!
As reported by Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, the layout for today’s Daytona 500 was as follows:
The fuel window was expected to be between 35 and 45 laps and the teams were given 9 sets of tires. A number of drivers had to go to the rear. The drivers who went to backup cars were Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Riley Herbst, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and SVG. Daniel Suarez failed tech as well as Stenhouse. Helio Castroneves changed an engine and was forced to start in the 41st spot.
The threat of rain was in the Daytona area all day. As you can see in the clip below posted by Bob Pockrass, there was a big cell of rain headed towards the track at the drop of the green flag. Sprinkles started to fall on Lap-8, triggering the first caution flag of the day. Cars were brought down pit road, and the track drying process began quickly. We were officially under the red flag for nearly three hours.
After this cell passed through, drivers were ordered to return to their cars at 5:25 PM. They refired the engines and turned about nine laps under caution. During these pace laps, several drivers came down pit road for service. However, another small cell of rain moved through the area, causing rain in turn-2. The red flag was displayed once again and the field came down pit road. This time, however, drivers did not exit their cars.
We were on hold for another thirty minutes as crews dried the track. Then, engines refired once more and this time, we got to go green!
There was a sense of urgency at the drop of the green flag with several drivers challenging pole-sitter Chase Briscoe for the race lead. There was a threat of rain and the chatter on the team’s radios was that it would start raining soon. Sprinkles started to fall on Lap-8, triggering the first caution of the day. As the field crossed the line for Lap-11, the red flag was displayed, pausing the race. Outside pole-sitter Austin Cindric and Ty Dillon led the field down pit road. After about five minutes under red flag conditions, NASCAR gave the order to cover the cars. Drivers then climbed out of their racing machines as the rain picked up.
The race went green once more on Lap-23. With the drivers growing restless under the delay, it didn’t take long for things to get racy at the front of the pack. Everyone wanted a piece of that lead and early leaders included Corey LaJoie, Joey Logano, William Byron, and Chase Elliott led the outside lane with Kyle Busch in the middle. They raced like that for about ten of fifteen laps before things started to calm down. Drivers started to save fuel and the field went single file. Unfortunately, the first stage was not able to finish under green. The first caution for incident came with only 3 laps to go.
The first stage came to an unceremonious end when a stack-up caused Hamlin to check up. Hamlin was then hit from behind by Zane Smith in his number 38 Ford. Hamlin got loose, spinning down on the apron. He almost caught it but couldn’t before he went up the track. Smith then got squirrely and made light contact with Austin Cindric. As Smith went back up the banking, he collected Josh Berry. Of the four drivers involved, Berry and Smith received the most damage.
With this incident, defending series champion Joey Logano won the first stage under caution. The point earners from stage 1 were as follows:
The field came down pit road to gas up and change tires. Logano won the race off pit road and began the second stage from the point. Keselowski and Blaney followed. Jumping up to 4th and 5th respectively were the Hendrick Chevys of Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott. And, with a moment to catch their breath, the drivers were ready for another 60-lap sprint to the end of Stage 2.
Penalties on pit road were given out to Kyle Busch and Justin Allgaier. Both drivers crews were over the wall too soon. The 8 and 40 Chevys had to serve a pass-through penalty under caution. They restarted Stage 2 in the back.
We didn’t get a long green flag run to start the second stage. Right after taking the green flag, there was a stack-up in the outside lane going into Turn-1. It started as Joey Logano had some sort of issue on the restart, stacking up the outside line. This led to Helio Castroneves checking up and then getting into Ross Chastain. As a result, Chastain got loose. Like a pinball, Chastain was hit on the left side and sent back up the track where he tagged Helio Castroneves. Also involved in the incident were Kyle Busch, Shane van Gisbergen, and John Hunter Nemechek. Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were too involved but received minimal damage. Check out the incident below.
Joey Logano came down pit road with a mechanical issue, which caused this incident. Helio Castroneves and Martin Truex Jr. went back to the garage. After a time, Martin Truex withdrew from the race. The FOX Sports crew caught up with him after he was released from the infield care center. This likely was Truex’s only Cup start of 2025. He may make a few starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series but nothing has been made official.
Helio Castroneves’ day also came to an early end. He was involved in that incident along with Truex.
We went green once more and Joey Logano’s struggles continued. He fell way off the pace, almost going a lap down, before a caution for debris saved him on Lap-86. Under caution, he pitted several times to repair the issue. Once green again, Logano seemed to be back up to pace.
We got a stretch of green flag racing following the debris caution. The Fords of Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney dominated the latter half of the stage with their more prominent challengers being Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. As they reached inside 10 laps to go in the stage, things started to get a little racier. Prior, the outside lane went single file, opening the door for an inside line, led by Alex Bowman, to race up through the pack. Bowman took the lead with 7-laps to go but the Penske Fords had something to say about that. They battled hard on the outside of Bowman, Buescher, and Joey Logano, who was then back in the mix. Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier, who was in the top-10 for a brief time, was shuffled to the back of the pack.
The field was in a 2-by-2 gridlock, the drivers juking and jiving all throughout the pack, as we approached the end of the stage. It was still anyone’s stage to win. But it was the Fords that prevailed at the end of the stage. Ryan Blaney scored the victory along with a bonus Playoff point. The points distribution following the conclusion of Stage 2 was as follows.
During the stage break, the field came down pit road once again. Crew Chiefs told their drivers that this was likely going to be their last stop for tires. Then, the field lined back up, ready for the mad 70-lap race to the finish.
As the pack took the 50-laps to-go mark, we saw a 3-wide gridlock for the lead. Leading the lines early were Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott on the outside, the Penske Fords of Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric in the middle, and the Chevys of defending racing Winner William Byron and Kyle Busch on the inside. While all of that was going on, we started to hear chatter about the fuel situation, with gas and go stops starting to be discussed.
Fortunately for the field, those pit stops were not under the green. This was because another debris caution came out on Lap-162. The cars came down pit road for service. Austin Cindric won the race off of pit road, leading Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron. Cindric chose to restart on the inside with teammate Blaney lining up behind him.
As we took the 30 laps to go, the outside line fell apart. The Hendrick drivers of Chase Elliott and William Byron lost all of their momentum. This left a single-file line up front. Austin Cindric led the line with Blaney behind him. Behind the Penske duo sat the RCR teammates of Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch. Behind them were a pair of Toyotas in Christopher Bell and Riley Herbst. Busch’s crew chief then came over the radio and urged his driver to save fuel.
Denny Hamlin tried to get the outside lane going with Bubba Wallace. Then the Toyotas of Tyler Reddick and John Hunter Nemechek jumped up to pull the line along. But by the time the line got up to the 8th position, Reddick jumped out of line in favor of the middle, killing their momentum. Meanwhile, Cindric and Blaney remained strong on the inside.
Efforts continued to get the middle and outside lanes organized as we got to inside 20 to go. But, for the time being, the inside line remained the dominant line. Corey LaJoie led the outside but they kept switching lines. This made them unable to make any real progress towards the front. When LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. teamed up with Joey Logano behind them, the magic really started to happen. Unfortunately, as Corey LaJoie took the lead on the outside Daytona, a multi-car incident broke out.
The wreck occurred with 14 laps to go, as Logano’s 22 got a run on Stenhouse’s 47. Logano dove down low coming out of Turn-4 and Stenhouse drifted up the track. The 22 filled the hole the 47 was previously in and Stenhouse quickly came down on him. This sent Stenhouse spinning into Kyle Busch and Logano got turned up the track from behind. Logano collected Blaney and plowed hard into the outside wall, breaking the right rear of the car. Busch, meanwhile, spun down low, making contact with the inside SAFER barrier on the backstretch. Also collected in the crash were NASCAR’s Most Popular Drivers, Chase Elliott, Noah Gragson, Cole Custer, and Erik Jones. Check out the incident in the clip below.
Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were forced to go behind the wall. Busch’s team started to repair the car while Logano’s day was done.
As the field took 8 laps to go, Corey LaJoie led the field around to take the green. LaJoie led for about half a lap before being shuffled by Austin Cindric, with Denny Hamlin in second. Christopher Bell and Riley Herbst followed. Coming to six laps to go, Hamlin and Bell went high, then Hamlin started blacking both lanes. Bell was able to get up beside his veteran teammate after receiving a huge shot from Cole Custer. They side-by-side throughout the whole pack as they took 5 laps to go. On the backstretch heading towards Turn-3, a massive wreck broke out up front.
After an aggressive blow from Cole Custer behind him, Christopher Bell turned and hit hard against the outside wall. He then ricocheted off the wall and made contact with Ryan Preece. Preece’s 60 car clipped Bell, sending him into the air. All that air caught the 60 car sent him over. For the second time in his Cup Series career, Ryan Preece was upside down at Daytona. Also collected in the wreck were Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, and Erik Jones.
Read more about this incident here:
For the overtime restart, Denny Hamlin led the field to the green. But he was quickly abandoned on the inside with Cole Custer pushing Austin Cindric to the lead. As the inside line started to come back, Cindric blocked Hamlin. After they took the white flag Hamlin made his move to the outside. Going farther to the outside was Cole Custer. Three wide, Custer went for a hole that wasn’t there and got turned into Hamlin. This then collected the leaders as a massive wreck broke out. However, sneaking through was defending Daytona 500 champion, William Byron.
For the second year in a row, William Byron won the Daytona 500! He was by no means the best car tonight, most of those got taken out in earlier incidents. But as Richard Petty once said, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Because Byron was able to stay in the battle and keep his nose clean, he was able to avoid that final wreck and cruise to victory. Behind him was 23XI driver Tyler Reddick who just didn’t have the momentum there at the end. Congratulations to William Byron, now a 2-time Daytona 500 champion! With this win, he joins HMS greats like Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The 67th Daytona 500 is officially in the books, race fans. What did you think of this race? Did you enjoy it? Was it everything you expected? How’d your favorite driver do? Let us know!
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is officially underway! So, be sure to keep coming back here to DailyDownforce.com all week for the latest news, stories, and forecasts for the upcoming race weekend. On to Atlanta next week for a Truck/Xfinity Double Header on Saturday and the Cup race on Sunday.
