Daytona was bursting full of energy on Sunday night with an action-packed 500-miler. However, not everyone was pleased with it. The rain-caused delay and the excess number of cautions that were thrown, particularly towards the end of the race, left many disappointed. Among them was former driver David Ragan.
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He wrote on X, “I really hate the Great American Race has turned into such a wreck fest the last 25 laps.” The final stage was where most of the chaos was. On Lap 186, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. attempted blocking Logano and ended up taking out Kyle Busch. The wreck involved Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Noah Gragson.
On Lap 197, Christopher Bell was shoved from behind by Cole Custer. The No. 20 driver lost his control and slammed into the wall before getting in the way of Ryan Preece. Preece’s Mustang went airborne and flipped before landing on its wheels. Daniel Suarez and Brad Keselowski were involved in it.
I really hate the Great American Race has turned into such a wreck fest the last 25 laps.
— David Ragan (@DavidRagan) February 17, 2025
Finally, after the white flag was taken, the race leaders got into a timely crash in the final lap that let William Byron cruise by for the win. All the ups and downs had left Ragan understandably frustrated. But then, this is the nature of superspeedway racing. Kenny Wallace took the responsibility of pointing that out.
He quipped on his X handle, “Racers wanna do good really bad. At the end of the biggest race, nobody lets off the gas.” Who can blame them when the prestigious Harley J. Earl trophy and an attractive multi-million dollar prize money is on the line? All said and done, the 2025 Daytona 500 was a memorable event for many reasons.
How William Byron ended up in victory lane out of nowhere
The Hendrick Motorsports driver was driving in ninth place with one lap left in the Great American Race. His hopes of winning back-to-back Daytona 500s was all but over with Denny Hamlin and Austin Cindric set to take the checkered flag. However, he was in the right place when the final wreck occured in overtime.
He was racing near the outside wall and completely avoided the accident at the front of the pack. NASCAR did not drop a caution and he shot forward to victory. Left in disbelief at his fortune, he said, “Just obviously fortunate it worked out in our favor. Crazy? Yeah. I can’t honestly believe that but we’re here.”
Byron is now only the fifth driver in history to win the Daytona 500 on consecutive occasions. It was the 14th win of his career and he already has his sights set on the season finale in Phoenix after finishing third in the last two seasons.
