DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A look at the winners and losers from a busy Monday at Daytona.
WINNERS
William Byron — Although he led only four laps, that’s all he needed to win his first Daytona 500. It’s quite a start to the season for the Hendrick Motorsports driver after winning a series-high six races and racing for the championship last year.
Alex Bowman — Runner-up finish marks the second consecutive year he’s had a top-five finish in this race. He and William Byron give Hendrick Motorsports its fourth 1-2 finish in the Daytona 500.
Corey LaJoie — Scored a fourth-place finish, tying his career-best Cup finish. Five of his nine career top 10s in Cup have come at Daytona.
Austin Hill — He won the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona for the third year in a row.
John Hunter Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger — Both completed all 800 miles of racing Monday, competing in both the Daytona 500 and the Xfinity race. Allmendinger was sixth in the Daytona 500 and 10th in the Xfinity race. Nemechek was seventh in the Daytona 500 and seventh in the Xfinity race.
LOSERS
Front Row Motorsports — None of its cars finished better than 35th. Todd Gilliland was 35th due to an accident, Michael McDowell was 36th after mechanical issues during the race and Kaz Grala placed 38th when he was collected in a crash on Lap 6.
Former champions — Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson each saw their winless streak in the Daytona 500 continue. Truex is winless in 20 starts. Busch is winless in 19 starts. Keselowski is winless in 14 starts. Larson is winless in 10 starts. Larson finished 11th, Busch was 12th, Truex placed 15th and Keselowski was 33rd.
