WILLIAM BYRON WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE DAYTONA 500

William Byron won his second consecutive Daytona 500, dodging a last-lap wreck that collected several contenders.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver became the first back-to-back winner of The Great American Race since Denny Hamlin in 2019-20

Austin Cindric was leading heading to the white flag, but he was collected in a crash that started when Cole Custer slammed into Hamlin, who was passing Cindric for the lead. The contact caused a chain reaction that also involved Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Corey LaJoie and pole-sitter Chase Briscoe.

Byron was running ninth entering the last lap, and he darted high in his No. 24 Chevrolet to avoid the massive wreck.

Tyler Reddick finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.

The race went into over time because of a caution on Lap 197 for a multicar crash in which Ryan Preece's No. 60 Ford flipped over, landed on its roof and then violently back on its wheels.

The 10-car crash brought out the third red flag of the race (the first two were for rain).

Preece, who went airborne in a terrifying wreck at Daytona in August 2023, was able to walk away. The incident began when Bell lost control after a push from Custer, and his No. 20 Toyota turned into the right side of Preece's car, which went up in the air on its rear wheels for a few seconds before beginning to tumble.

Several contenders were eliminated by an eight-car crash on the backstretch on Lap 186 of a scheduled 200.

The incident started when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. attempted to block Joey Logano and made contact, causing spins that collected Joey Logano, Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland and Cole Custer.

The wreck eliminated Penske teammates Blaney (22 laps led) and Logano (43 laps led), who had won the first two stages.

Stage 1 winner: Joey Logano

Stage 2 winner: Ryan Blaney

Next: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sunday, Feb. 23, 3 p.m. ET, Fox

WILL BE UPDATED