William Byron has faced some strong criticism following his second consecutive win at the Daytona 500, sparking a discussion regarding the role of luck in the race. He's been targeted by critics who argue that luck played a large role in his recent win.

With the race seemingly out of reach as the No. 24 Chevrolet underperformed, Will Byron kept his head and seized an 11th-hour opportunity similar to his 2024 victory.

William Byron is now a two-time Daytona 500 champion, and his legacy is being built on that. But Byron wants more, driving the car made famous by Jeff Gordon.

A multi-car collision during the final lap of overtime allowed Byron to come from ninth to win the 67th edition of the Daytona 500

Who won the NASCAR Daytona 500 Cup Series race? William Byron is the winner, plus full NASCAR Cup results, running order, leaderboard at Daytona.

William Byron won his second straight Daytona 500 after a last-lap wreck took out race leader Denny Hamlin on the backstretch. Byron took over the lead when Hamlin went spinning after taking the lead from Austin Cindric on the backstretch on the final lap of a green-white-checker restart.

Last year: Daniel Suarez edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish. There were 10 cautions and an Atlanta-record 47 lead changes, alongside a pileup of at least 16 cars, the biggest in the history of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Last race: William Byron captured his second Daytona 500 win while narrowly avoiding a final-lap crash.

Thanks to one more crash, Byron used a clean ride on his final lap to escape the chaos and race to his second straight Daytona 500 victory.