Here’s what drivers were saying after the 2024 Daytona 500.
William Byron — Winner: “Just so proud of this team, whole Axalta team. 40th anniversary, to the day (of Hendrick Motorsports’ first race) on Monday. Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, and now we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year and this is a good start. Obviously, Daytona 500, it’s freaking awesome.”
Alex Bowman — Finished 2nd: “Proud of William and his team — they deserved it there at the end. They did all the right things, and I feel like we did too there at the end. Had to go up and block the top lane and that just killed the middle for a bit. We got the middle back rolling and then they all started crashing.”
Christopher Bell — Finished 3rd: “Honestly, we got really fortunate. With those two wrecks, you know. The race was not playing out our way at the end. And after the green flag stop, I was pretty much in the back. But being on the bottom lane, I was able to squeeze by that last wreck. I don’t know, we had an awesome Interstate Batteries DeWalt Camry. We showed a lot of pace between the Duel and the early part of the race. When we had track position, we were fast. But I don’t know, didn’t go our way and we need to study it.”`
Corey LaJoie — Finished 4th: “Really stoked to start the year with a top five in our Chili’s Catch a Rita Chevy Camaro. Super happy with our team’s execution to start the season. Our Spire Motorsports team brought a great race car with good speed and executed throughout the course of the day. We gained some track position, led some laps and after getting shuffled back continued to fight and claw our way to the front. The 500 begins a marathon season, so it’s great to start off on the right foot. We have 35 more to execute one run at a time & one race at a time to keep this 7 car up front where should be.”
Bubba Wallace — Finished 5th: “We don’t give ourselves chances in the 500. We’re always trying to come from behind, whether that’s my doing or just not executing. Unfortunate, you know? We got lucky with that big caution as we were going to need to pit for an unscheduled stop. Luck was on our side, but that’s not something we needed because we lost all our track position there. Feel like you need to be in the top three rows to have a shot at this race.”
AJ Allmendinger — Finished 6th: “We had an up and down night but everyone at Kaulig Racing did a great job this weekend. We had great pit stops, great strategy and we had a car that could hang up there. We gave ourselves a shot at it and that’s all we can do. It’s the biggest race we have in the sport and I’m really proud of everyone’s effort this week.”
John Hunter Nemechek — Finished 7th: “Solid Daytona 500, solid start to our year. P7. Ran up front for a little bit, rode around for a while and stayed out of the carnage. Overall, really proud of everyone at Legacy Motor Club with this Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE.”
Erik Jones — Finished 8th: “A top-10 it looks like, so a good day for the AdventHealth Camry. It went the way we needed it to. We had some issues on pit road. We had a fast car; it just didn’t work out. We were out front there and then got caught up in a wreck there, and then came back and finished top-10. Good solid start.”
Noah Gragson — Finished 9th: “We came down there at the end. We led some laps early but we came down there at the end to fix some damage right before the final restart. We didn’t have a whole lot of area to go but I guess it is better than being wrecked. Overall we will take a top-10. We kind of got pinned on the bottom and didn’t have a lot of room to go and then the race ended. I feel so good being behind the wheel. This whole Stewart Haas team did a great job, especially getting the backup car going.”
Chase Briscoe — Finished 10th: “Anytime you can finish this race in one piece is nice. It was hard to get track position. It seemed like wherever you kind of fell in after two or three laps of green flag pit stops you just kind of ran there the whole time. That was a weird race. It seems like everytime we run these superspeedways it turns into more and more of a fuel mileage race. I thought we would be okay there at the end and we had to start 12th or 13th on the restart and it was hard to do anything. We were all kind of bottled up. Coming out of here with (a 10th place) finish and missing the wrecks and not being in a huge points hole is nice.”
Kyle Larson — Finished 11th: “Yeah, obviously the first stage went well and then the next two stages just got caught in the wrong lanes at pivotal points and lost track position. So, yeah, kind of cost us a good shot to win there at the end, but was able to miss that big wreck mostly. Got a left, front flat from sliding them and had to pit, but thankfully we missed the last one and awesome to have a Hendrick Chevrolet win that race and cool to see William win.”
Kyle Busch — Finished 12th: “We ran up front and led some laps tonight and scored points in both stages. At the end of the race we tried to pick off a couple of spots and just got shucked out of line and shuffled to the back. It’s always disappointing when you don’t win, especially at Daytona.”
Chase Elliott — Finished 14th: “Just made a mistake there on the last lap and not sure I would have got to the front row, but certainly would have been a better finish for us. I hate that because we had a solid day otherwise. Happy for William to kick off the 40th year of Hendrick Motorsports with the win.”
Daniel Hemric — Finished 16th: “I’m proud of the fight this No. 31 Cirkul team showed from the start of the weekend getting our backup car ready to race. We wanted to get to the front early in the race if possible, which was a little bit of a different approach than what I’ve typically had at these kind of tracks. Trent [Owens] made some great calls, and we were able to do just that and stay up there to show everyone we can push successfully and accept pushes successfully while battling up front. That goes a long way when you get down to the end of these races.”
Chris Buescher — Finished 18th: “We had a fast Fastenal Ford Mustang and I am excited about that heading into next week. That is about where my excitement ends on the day. The crash, that sucks, there is no way around that. That definitely ruined our ultimate result. It was a really strange race. One of the most frustrating races I have been a part of in a long time. Tons of fuel saving and it was all about the pit stop, one pit stop for every stage and then some massive blocks by single cars that weren’t up to speed.”
Ross Chastain — Finished 21st: “Happy for William and Chevy and General Motors to win. It was really awesome for us to control some of the cycles, the green flag pit cycles, and kicked their butts. So that was really cool and then to have a bunch of Chevys left there at the end there made me feel good. It was cool Alex (Bowman) pushed me there at the end and I felt like there was minimal chance that a Chevy wasn’t going to win and one of them got it done. But yeah, too aggressive is when I don’t finish.”
Austin Cindric — Finished 22nd: “We had a shot to win the Daytona 500. We were really in great position with the outside lane breaking up and kind of one-on-one with the 24 with the whole pack behind, so you can’t really ask for anything else other than that out of myself and the team. It just sucks a little bit.”
Josh Berry — Finished 25th: “I feel like I learned a lot and raced well. There were a couple moves I wish I could have back maybe here or there but overall I was pretty happy we could work toward the front and maintain it. I thought the car was really good I just hate we got turned on pit road. That got us behind. We were able to get in the Lucky Dog position but it just didn’t work out there at the end. Overall it was a good night to learn I just hate we didn’t get the finish we deserved.”
Justin Haley — Finished 26th: “Our No. 51 team did great working through the adversity that comes with a race at Daytona. It was good to get up front and work with our Ford teammates; that was something I was really looking forward to and it was nice to be able to show early on that we’re capable of being there. We’ve got some things to clean up on pit road, but that’s expected with a new team. I feel good about what we did overall.”
Jimmie Johnson — Finished 28th: “There’s optimism in the beginning, hopeful we could straighten out the suspension and then at least run in the draft. Then, as time went on, we realized the severity of the damage and we just had too much damage to even really hang in the draft unless I had a unique situation. So then, at that point it was just wondering if there were going to be more cautions and if we would gain some positions through the cautions.”
Tyler Reddick — Finished 29th: “Pretty solid day for us on the speedway, honestly. Our Nasty Beast Toyota Camry was fast. We didn’t do the best job in Stage 1 to get points, kind of let that one get away. We were right in the mix there, they just started wrecking at the end. Tried to get by them on the apron, just didn’t make it.”
Ryan Blaney — Finished 30th: “I saw a replay and I kind of saw the 48 and 24 shoving hard and it looks like the 48 got out of shape and then the 24 was trying to find him and then by that time he got turned into Brad and then we were just a byproduct of being in the top lane. I couldn’t see a ton, but replay showed just hard pushing and it is what it is.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — Finished 31st: “I didn’t see what happened there. I know I got us in that position, made a bad move once I got to the lead. The outside lane had a run coming and I thought I could get there, and I didn’t, and I got hung there in the middle so that kind of got us back there kind of in the middle of that pack there and I didn’t see what happened there obviously. Someone got turned around and caused a melee. I thought I was going to get through, I got clipped just there at the end and broke a right rear.”
Joey Logano — Finished 32nd: “Speedway racing again. It’s a lot of fun until this happens. It was pretty interesting with a lot of pushing and shoving there at the end. Our car was able to take it. Our Mustang was so fast. It could lead a line really well. I kind of thought I had the cars I wanted around me. I had at least one I wanted around me, but just couldn’t make it work.”`
Brad Keselowski — Finished 33rd: “I got hit in the back, so I couldn’t really tell you. It’s a shame. I was kind of making a move for the lead with eight laps to go in the Daytona 500 and I’m here talking to you. It’s just one of those deals. We were mixed up in the middle of the soup most of the race. We executed really well in the final stage and put ourselves in position, but that’s just the way Daytona goes.”
Daniel Suarez — Finished 34th: “It’s very heartbreaking right now because the car was very strong, and the team did an amazing job calling the race strategy-wise. We got points in both stages, and this was my strongest Daytona 500. The car was capable of winning the race, we just needed things to fall our way, and unfortunately, they didn’t. I haven’t seen the replay, but I was told that we almost missed the wreck. Just part of it.”
Austin Dillon — Finished 37th: “Not the most memorable Daytona 500 for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet team. Thankful for all of the employees at RCR and ECR for building a great race car. I hate that we never really got a chance to show what we have. Only way to move is forward and to get ready for Atlanta Motor Speedway.”