Breaking news

NASCAR Cup Daytona 500

Byron exits 500 early: "No reason to be that aggressive"

William Byron will finish 40th (last place) in the 62nd running of the Daytona 500.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Feb 17, 2020, 10:39 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Axalta 'Color of the Year'

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Axalta 'Color of the

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Ca

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Axalta 'Color of the Year' Crew chief Chad Knaus

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Axalta 'Color of the Year'

Byron, who won his Duel race Thursday and started the event from the outside of the second row, was the first driver to exit the race Monday after it was postponed due to rain.

The 22-year-old was making his third appearance in the Daytona 500, having also crashed out last year.

On Lap 58 of 200, he connected with the nose of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s machine, sending him spinning through the backstretch grass before slamming the inside wall. He became the first retirement from the race.

“Yeah, I don’t know," said Byron when asked what happened. "Obviously, I got hit in the back bumper. I saw a brief replay of it. He (Stenhouse) was kind of moving when he hit me first and so he pushed me left with him. And then he hit me in the center of the left rear and just turned me around. I think it was just enough. The first hit, when he was sliding left on my bumper, is what really moved my car left with him. So, I don’t know. It’s unfortunate. I feel like I don’t know. I feel like there’s really no reason to be that aggressive moving across my bumper, but it is what it is. We’ll go on to Vegas and go try to win that one.”

After a promising SpeedWeeks, it was a disappointing end for the young driver as he continues his search for his first Cup Series win. His Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott went on to win Stage 1.

“It’s the ups and downs of racing," said Byron. "It goes up and down, and luckily, we got something points-wise out of this race or less we’d have one point. I guess we have 10 or 11 points going into Las Vegas. We’re going to have to rebound and rally there. I don’t know, I’m not really sure what I could have done differently.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Daytona 500 postponed to Monday due to persistent showers

Next article Hamlin wins Daytona 500; Newman hospitalized after crash

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

2 h

GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 3 h

Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

7 h

Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

8 h

Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts