Byron Wins Daytona 500 with Hendrick Teammate Bowman P2

19 February 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

DAYTONA BEACH, FL — Rain forced NASCAR to shift the “Great American Race” from Sunday to Monday when, thankfully for many ticket holders, it was the President’s Day holiday. Most of the sold-out Daytona 500 crowd returned for a double header as the Xfinity Series also raced Monday night delivering 800 miles of racing for fans to enjoy. Also returning were the US Airforce Thunderbirds for a spectacular flyover as part of the National Anthem and Dwayne “THE ROCK” Johnson to gave the command to fire engines. Monday also marked the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports first NASCAR race, so what better way to celebrate than a Hendrick 1–2 finish with William Byron edging out teammate Alex Bowman to win the Daytona 500. Byron reached the start/finish line and the white flag seconds before NASCAR officials issued a caution as Ross Chastain spun through the infield grass after contact with Austin Cindric.

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA — FEBRUARY 19: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, leads Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, to the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA — FEBRUARY 19: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning he NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The Go Full Throttle AI Algorithms Were Also Working Overtime
Our GFT NASCAR AI Driver Rankings moved significantly from our Pre-Season report ahead of The Clash at the Coliseum, and again as our GFT AI Race Predictor algorithm issued our picks for NASCAR Fantasy Live. As a reminder our picks were: Byron, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Busch which scored 179 points resulting in 64th out of 4412 players which puts our algorithm in the top 1.45%

“Go Full Throttle AI 1” picks for Daytona 500 in the TMDNASCAR League of NASCAR FANTASY LIVE (Image: nascar.com)

179 points by our Go Full Throttle AI #NASCARFantacyRacing model, 64th out of 4412 players puts our algorithm in the top 1.45% for the #Daytona500 in the TMDNASCAR League.

NASCAR Cup Series Top 25 GFT AI Driver Rankings after Daytona

Go Full Throttle NASCAR AI Driver Rankings following the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

NASCAR GFT AI Driver Ranking Comers and Go’ers

Moving up the rankings after Daytona:
- Alex Bowman’s 2nd place delivers a 14-spot jump to P7 for the Hendrick Motorsports driver from Tucson, Arizona.
- Corey Lajoie moves up to P17 with his strong 4th place finish

Dropping in the rankings after Daytona:
- Cup Champion Ryan Blaney falls 7 spots from P1 to P8
- Daytona 500 Pole winner Joey Logano’s 32nd place finish sees him drop 10 spots to P21

Up Next:
Ambetter Health 400
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 2:30 PM ET
Hampton, Georgia- 260 laps / 400 miles