Byron wins 1st career Daytona 500 under caution

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —

Byron won under caution and was followed by teammate Bowman in a sweep for Chevrolet. Christopher Bell in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing finished third and was followed by Chevys from Corey Lajoie of Spire Motorsports and AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing.

Bubba Wallace was sixth in a Toyota for 23XI Racing and was followed by John Hunter Nemechek in another Toyota but for Legacy Motor Club. Chase Briscoe was eighth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and followed by Legacy driver Erik Jones and SHR teammate Noah Gragson.

Jimmie Johnson, who won Daytona 500 twice, in 2006 and 2013, while driving for Hendrick, was collected in a multi-car wreck only six laps into the race. He plummeted out of contention and finished 28th in the No. 84 Toyota on the night. Even with a disheartening result, Johnson won’t rule out another run at the Daytona 500.

“I had hoped to race longer. It’s a matter of time before you get caught up in something around here,” Johnson said.

The race ran one day later than scheduled because of persistent rain all weekend at Daytona International Speedway. Monday was supposed to open with the rescheduled second-tier Xfinity Series race and then lead into the 500, but when it was still raining Monday morning, NASCAR reordered the events and made the Xfinity race the closer.

Joey Logano started from the pole in a Ford for Team Penske — a first for Roger Penske’s storied team — in an all-Ford front row. Right before the race began, three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin became the betting favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

There was no pre-race concert Monday as scheduled performer Pitbull said he’d return next year to make good on his appearance. He said a scheduling conflict prevented him from staying in Daytona on Monday, but grand marshal Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson did stay the extra day and was the most popular attraction in pre-race activities.

Johnson was swarmed on the starting grid and in the fan zone and received the loudest ovation in the pre-race driver meeting, to which he showed up 30 minutes ahead of schedule wearing a black tank top.

The flexibility NASCAR has shown this month in working within its schedule to avoid inclement weather is practically unprecedented in the first 75 hours of the series. NASCAR, to start the month, moved the exhibition Clash at the Coliseum up a full day because of impending rain. At Daytona, it rescheduled the ARCA Series race from Saturday to Friday night, and made early decisions to move both the Xfinity and Cup Series races.

The decision to postpone the Cup race a day was made early Sunday morning and prevented fans from sitting in rain-soaked grandstands to see if the race would begin.

Just hours later, teams used Sunday’s rain delay to reveal to The Associated Press that they have hired one of the country’s top antitrust and sports lawyers to advise them in their ongoing dispute with NASCAR over a new revenue-sharing model.

The decision to hire Jeffrey Kessler, partner and co-executive chair of Winston & Strawn LLP, followed a meeting at Daytona that included the majority owner from every chartered team. Although the teams invited NASCAR representatives to attend, none did.

Kessler’s hiring was revealed to AP by the five members of the team ownership negotiating committee. It comes amid a breakdown in negotiations between teams and NASCAR that led the 36 chartered teams to decline last month to extend their exclusive negotiating window with the sanctioning body on the existing deal.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.