William Byron wins NASCAR race at Daytona, locks himself into the postseason

The cautions were few but the drama was plentiful in NASCAR’s final regular-season race at Daytona International Speedway. William Byron won his first race of the season in an overtime thriller Saturday night to lock in his spot in the 2020 playoffs. The victory makes Byron the second driver to win a race in the No. 24 Chevrolet car after Jeff Gordon.

“Pretty incredible kind of elimination-style race that this was tonight,” Bryon said. “I think it prepares us for the future elimination races coming up here in the playoffs and really had the feeling of what it was like being in the Xfinity championship race.”

Byron slid between Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace with the field running four-wide heading into the closing laps. The close racing sent Logano wiggling, then sliding backwards and collecting other cars in his wake.

One of those drivers was Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson and Byron were competing as one of three drivers on the points bubble to make the playoffs. In the final stage of the race, Johnson sat four points above his teammate Byron as the last driver to make it into the postseason on points.

But a hard hit to the left side from Matt Kenseth, who spun up the track as part of the Logano wreck, solidified the end of Jimmie Johnson’s run. That crash forced the second of two late-laps red flags and an overtime race.

“I got in the right-side wall just a little bit and then somebody clobbered me from the bottom,” Johnson said. “Something happened in the lower lanes that I didn’t see and somebody spun up into me.”

Byron led the field on the restart, keeping just ahead of Cup rookie Christopher Bell, who fell back before the checkered flag. Byron kept his pace in the final two laps through the checkered flag, eliminating the need for any position or points counting.

“You couldn’t have picked a more pressure-packed race,” Byron said. “When you’re at a superspeedway and the running order changes every two laps practically, it’s incredible to put that much pressure on a couple of points.”

Chase Elliott finished in second and Denny Hamlin finished in third.

The first “Big One” came a few laps before the second “Bigger One.” With under 10 laps left, Cup rookie Tyler Reddick made a move from second place to pass Kyle Busch in the lead. Reddick passed too close and Busch checked up, forcing contact with Erik Jones directly behind him. Jones hit the wall and drivers running nearby in the field, including Kyle and Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Preece, were caught up in the wreck. The younger Busch described Reddick’s move as a “slide job gone bad.”

“Same quote, man. Still 2020. Nothing’s changed,” Busch said on the NBC broadcast after he was released from the infield care center.

With minimal damage, Reddick restarted in the front row, but quickly fell behind Logano, who raced up to first. Reddick’s No. 8 car was collected in the second major wreck, as was Logano’s.

“That’s just superspeedway racing,” Logano said on NBC. He finished in 27th.

Despite Logano’s DNF, the No. 22 driver swept the first two stages, both of which were marked by aggressive moves at the green-and-white flags as drivers tried to gain points in a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs. Clint Bowyer was locked into the postseason after the first stage based on points, but he placed in a better position to close stage 2, in third. Meanwhile, Erik Jones, on the outskirts of the playoff bubble, was at a loss early despite a solid Stage 1 finish (second). He needed to win the race in order to continue in the championship hunt.

Matt DiBenedetto finished in 12th place and Johnson finished in 17th. DiBenedetto was the final driver to make it into the playoffs on points.

“It definitely involved luck,” DiBenedetto said after the race. “I think it was just trying to make decent decisions and be smart all day and not be the causer of a crash, so that was my goal, to not make any silly moves.”

While “luck” was on DiBenedetto’s side, it has been a factor missing for Johnson this season. He raced hard to put himself in a strong position to point his way into the playoffs, but unfortunate positioning, timing and forces outside of his control again took Johnson out of the race. Still, Johnson appeared more resigned than upset following his late knockout.

“I have not put as much on this being my last year as others have,” Johnson said. “It’s been about performing. It’s been about being competitive. It’s been about getting this race team back to where it deserves to be.”

Although he added, “If I go out and win a couple of races down the stretch, I’ll be really disappointed that I’m not in the playoffs.”

This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 11:13 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription