No driver has ever won NASCAR’s biggest race three years in a row.
William Byron opens Daytona 500 week with an opportunity few drivers have had in the race’s long history—the chance to win three straight.
Byron won NASCAR’s biggest race in 2024 and 2025 to become only the fifth driver to win consecutive 500s since the Great American Race joined the motorsports landscape in 1959.
The list of drivers who have won three consecutive 500s is very short—so short that no one is on it. In fact, the 500 is such a tough score that no NASCAR team has won it in three consecutive years.
“I know we’ve been fortunate to win two in a row, and I feel confident we’ll be as prepared as we can be for this weekend,” Byron said. “There’s some luck that goes into even being there at the end of the race, I know that. But I also know that myself and this team are going to do everything we can control to put ourselves in position for a third. I know we have the team and the car for it; that’s not a question. I also feel like I have the experience, too, to go with that. All we can do is control what we can control.”
It is perhaps a bit surprising that Richard Petty, who put on his driving helmet at about the same time Daytona International Speedway was opening its gates and grew up with the track, hasn’t won three 500s in a row. He won the race seven times in a decorated driving career and went back-to-back in 1973 and 1974. In 1975, his shot at three in a row ended with a seventh-place finish (although he led 51 laps).
Petty Enterprises is one of six teams to have won consecutive 500s. The others are Ranier Racing, Morgan-McClure Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Hendrick Motorsports, and Joe Gibbs Racing.
The Hendrick team’s overall success in the 500 and Byron’s runs in the past two races automatically make him one of a handful of favorites in a race that typically comes down to strategy—in particular the choice of drafting partners—in the final laps. Hendrick has scored a record 10 Daytona 500 wins from a list of six drivers. Hendrick drivers have led laps in the past 25 500s and have won 16 500 poles.
Over the course of the past 16 Daytona 500s, Byron and Denny Hamlin are the only back-to-back winners.
Illustrating the difficulty of winning the race—and the dangers associated with close-contact racing at DIS—is the fact that at least 24 cars have been involved in accidents in each of the past nine races. In last year’s race, 35 of the starters were drawn into at least one accident.
No matter what happens across the long afternoon of racing, chances are the winner will be determined in the frantic drafting and jostling of the final miles. Cautions generally multiply. In 17 of the past 21 500s, the final green-flag run was two laps or less.
It’s also worth noting that a win in the 500 has escaped some of the sport’s best, including Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, and Chase Elliott.
Byron’s two 500s victories found him in the right place at the right time.
Now in his ninth season in the Cup Series, Byron led only four laps in winning the 2024 500. They were the final laps. He won the race under caution in front of Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman.
Last year, Byron led only 10 laps, winning the race in overtime by 0.113 of a second over Tyler Reddick.
One of the biggest challenges for Byron—and, indeed, the rest of the field—could be weather. Forecasts predict generally good weather Wednesday through Saturday, but a 40% chance of showers mars predictions on race day. The past two 500s have been rocked by poor weather. Rain forced a three-hour-plus red flag last year, and in 2024 the race was postponed to Monday because of rain.
Category: General Sports
