William Byron crossed under the white flag denoting the final lap at the exact moment a crash broke out behind him and won the rain-delayed Daytona 500, giving team owner Rick Hendrick the win in the 40th anniversary year of Hendrick Motorsports.
The NASCAR regular season settles in as it heads back east to Atlanta Motorspeedway this weekend.
Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman was second. The last Hendrick driver to win the 500 was Dale Earmhardt Jr. in 2014. Hendrick drivers have won the Daytona 500 nine times, tying the team with Petty Enterprises for the most ever.
The fourth and final caution of the race began when Bowman hit Byron from behind and it caused Byron to sideswipe Brad Keselowski, triggering a 23-car crash that caused a red flag that lasted more than 15 minutes.
Joey Logano won after starting on the pole last year.
Practice and qualifying is 10:30 am on Saturday. Race time is 1:30 pm Sunday.
Austuin Hill won at Daytona for the third consecutive year on Monday night after the race was postponed by rain. Hill willl look to defend his Atlanta win from last year as the XFinity Series follows the Cup Series to Atlanta Motorspeedway this weekend.
The season-opening race was originally slated to be run Saturday.
Hill has seven career victories, with two others coming at Atlanta.
Shane van Gisbergen finished 12th as last year’s Cup winner at Chicago made his Xfinity Series debut.
Frankie Munoz, the actor making a transition to motorsports, finished 33rd in his series debut.
Practice and qualifying is at 3:30 pm this afternoon. Race time is 4 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Nick Sanchez claimed the first Truck Series victory of his career, winning the season opener at Daytona when the race ended under caution. A potential breakout star in the Truck Series, the Craftsman Truck Series runs at Atlanta Motorspeedway this weekend.
Corey Heim was second, followed by Rajah Caruth.
The final caution involved 12 trucks and was the record 12th of the race.
Christian Eckes won at Atlanta last year.
Practice and qualifying is this afternoon at 2 pm. Race time is 1 pm on Saturday afternoon.
