Race
Stage 1
Originally scheduled for a 2:50pm start of engines, the start was accelerated where engines started at 1:46pm because of weather issues. After additional parade laps (including two with President Trump), the green flag waved at 2:06pm. As some drizzle occurred at the start, pole sitter Chase Briscoe led the first lap of the race. On lap 5, defending race winner William Byron took the lead down the backstretch but Ty Dillon got side by side with Byron and Dillon beat Byron to the line and led lap 5. Dillon would lead laps 6 and 7 before Byron would take the lead on lap 8. On lap 9, the first caution flew for rain in the area, which led to a red flag at 2:20pm after eight laps.
At 5:30pm, the race restarted after the 3:09:59 red flag with more laps under the safety car in order to dry pit lane. After pit stops and a total of ten laps of running, all under the safety car, the race is red flagged at 5:54pm for more drizzle, where the red flag is pulled at 6:15pm. With 44 laps remaining in the first stage, teams pit, hoping to make the stage without any more fuel stops.
The race restarts on Lap 24 with defending Series champion Joey Logano leading. The field quickly got 3 wide for about 10 rows deep from 4th on back. On lap 31, William Byron took the lead from Logano. On lap 32, Corey LaJoie took the lead. On lap 35, Joey Logano took the lead. On lap 40, Chase Elliott took the lead. On lap 42, a three wide battle for the lead took place between Elliott, Logano, and Kyle Busch. Busch was looking for his first Daytona 500 win in his 21st attempt. But Logano would beat the others and Logano took the lead and would hold on to it. On lap 43, A. J. Allmendinger's day would end as his engine blew. No caution flew because Allmendinger's car did not leak oil onto the track. On lap 45, another 3 wide battle for the lead would happen between Logano, William Byron, and Shane van Gisbergen but Logano would hold off the other 2 and keep the lead. Soon the field would begin the calm down with parts of the top 10 going single file and most of the rest behind them going two wide. With three laps remaining before the top ten are paid points on Lap 65, the first incident-related safety car is called on Lap 62 after Denny Hamlin, Zane Smith, and Josh Berry collide in the west banking. It started when the inside line began to check up and hit each other in the back which caused Smith to bump Hamlin too hard and cause Hamlin to go sideways. Smith then got doored by Austin Cindric causing Smith to go side ways and come up the track in front of Josh Berry giving Berry damage and causing Smith to spin. Smith and Berry tried to continue but were too slow and would eventually retire from the race with Berry retiring at lap 105 and Smith retiring at lap 108. With Logano in the lead at the end of Lap 65, with the race neutralised by the safety car, he scored the ten championship points and one playoff point.
Stage 2
With pit lane closed because of the Lap 63 safety car, and NASCAR regulations prohibiting pit stops in the last two laps of the stage, pit lane opens on Lap 66, the first lap of the second stage, where cars pit for fuel and tires. Joey Logano won the race off of pit road. The second stage started on Lap 71, but Logano slowed on the restart with what would eventually be found as a piece of debris on the throttle body, causing a stack up on the bottom line. Alex Bowman leads, but on the outside line John Hunter Nemechek went low to avoid the stack up but turned Ross Chastain and Chastain turned up into Hélio Castroneves and would begin a chain reaction wreck. The cars involved were Hélio Castroneves, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Riley Herbst, Martin Truex Jr., Justin Allgaier, and Cody Ware. Chastain, Castroneves, and Truex would all retire from the race. Shane van Gisbergen also got damage from the outside line stack up which would slow his car down. It was enough to make minimum speed but it wasn't as fast as it once was.
Logano initially noted the debris on the grille caused overheating, and lost a lap. Ryan Blaney was the new leader and he led the field to the restart on lap 77. On the restart, their other teammate Austin Cindric took the lead from Blaney. On lap 79, Ryan Preece took the lead. On lap 80, a three wide battle for the lead would occur between Preece, Cindric, and Noah Gragson with Gragson leading lap 80. The three remained three wide with Cindric leading laps 81 and 82 before the 4th caution flew on lap 83 for debris.
Logano, as the beneficiary, pits to remove the debris from the throttle body. All other teams refueled to ensure their cars could reach the second stage end, and points-paying lap, on Lap 130 without needing a fuel stop. Cindric won the race off of pit road, with the race restarting on Lap 87. Cindric and Chase Elliott were side by side for the lead with Cindric leading lap 87 before Michael McDowell peaked to the outside and made it 3 wide again for the lead. Cindric would be able to hold on to lead. On lap 90, McDowell would take the lead. Cindric would get side by side with McDowell and lead lap 91 before Noah Gragson attempted to take the lead. McDowell would take the lead on lap 94 before Gragson would take it on lap 95. Cindric would lead lap 96 with Ryan Preece making it 3 wide alongside Cindric and Gragson. Preece would take the lead on lap 97. On lap 100, both Noah Gragson and Alex Bowman attempted to take the lead from Preece but Preece would lead that lap and lap 101 before Bowman would lead on lap 102. Bowman and Austin Cindric battled for the lead with Bowman leading the laps before lap 106 when Cindric took the lead. The field would soon go two wide for multiple laps. On lap 116, Alex Bowman would take the lead. Cindric would take it back the next lap. Bowman would take the lead on lap 123. Cindric would take it back on lap 124 before Bowman led lap 125 and Cindric again on lap 126. On the last lap of stage 2 on lap 130, Ryan Blaney would beat out Austin Cindric and Blaney would win stage 2.
Final stage
The final 70 lap segment started with teams pitting for tires and fuel, knowing how tires were necessary because of handling because of the 15-year old asphalt that had lost grip. Ryan Blaney won the race off of pit road and leading the field to the restart on lap 138. On lap 139, Bubba Wallace took the lead. Blaney would take the lead on lap 142 before Wallace took it back the next lap. It was a 3 wide battle for the lead between Wallace, Blaney, and Kyle Busch. Blaney would take the lead on lap 146. Wallace would take the lead with 52 laps to go on lap 149. Soon William Byron joined in on the 3 wide battle for the lead with Wallace and Blaney. With 48 to go, Blaney took the lead. Wallace would take it back with 46 to go before Blaney took it with 44 to go and then by Wallace again with 43 to go. With 42 to go, William Byron took the lead. Blaney would take it back the next lap. Wallace took the lead with 40 to go.
On Lap 162, debris in Turn 1 caused a sixth safety car neutralisation. Teams could pit and be assured they could complete the remainder of regulation on fuel (notwithstanding additional safety car laps in case of a Lap 199 safety car). Austin Cindric won the race off of pit road and he led the field to the restart with 35 laps to go. On the restart, Bubba Wallace took the lead. With 34 to go, Austin Cindric took the lead. Soon, most of the top 10 was single file while the rest behind them were 3 wide. With 16 laps to go, Corey LaJoie, who was in that 3 wide pack, attempted to take the lead with a push from Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On Lap 186, with 15 remaining, the first major incident occurred on the backstretch. Joey Logano tried to split the middle in between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney. Stenhouse went and continued to try to block Logano even with Logano being on his quarter panel. Logano would hook Stenhouse into Blaney and Logano would get hooked by Noah Gragson causing the wreck. The cars involved were Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Noah Gragson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Todd Gilliland, Cole Custer, and Brad Keselowski. Only Logano and Busch would retire from the race. Corey LaJoie was leading when the caution came out and he led the field to the restart with on Lap 193, with eight laps remaining. On the restart, Austin Cindric took the lead after he fooled LaJoie with the blocks LaJoie attempted. Denny Hamlin took the lead officially when the field crossed the line. Hamlin was looking for his fourth win. A lap later, Hamlin's teammate Christopher Bell attempted to take the lead as he got side by side with Hamlin. A second lap later, Bell would get turned by Cole Custer down the backstretch where Bell pounded the outside wall head on triggering the 3rd big wreck in the biggest and wildest crash of the night. Bell came down across the track in front of Ryan Preece where Preece's car ramped off of Bell's car while Preece also hit Erik Jones causing Preece's front end to lift off the ground and do a wheelie. The car then steered left with the wind which caused his car to blow over onto its roof. The car skidded on its roof up the turn 3 banking where it landed on all fours before it hit the outside wall with the rear of the car just missing the catch fence in the process. Preece would get out uninjured. This was the second time at Daytona where Preece has flipped with the first time occurring almost a year and a half ago where his car barrel rolled 10 times. The wreck took out 10 cars. The cars involved were Christopher Bell, Cole Custer, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Erik Jones, Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Justin Allgaier. Only Preece, Bell, and Wallace would retire from the race. [18]
The race was stopped with a red flag because of debris issues for six minutes. Pit lane opened on Lap 198 for lead lap cars, then lapped cars, with the ensuing restart held under green-white-checker finish rules on Lap 200. Hamlin would lead the field to the green flag. On the restart, Austin Cindric took the lead with a push from Cole Custer. As the cars took the white flag for the last lap, Riley Herbst got bumped by Corey LaJoie, sending Herbst sideways. However, Herbst was able to save it and keep his car straight. The race stayed green, meaning it would end with the next change of flag. Down the backstretch, Hamlin got to the outside of Cindric and attempted to take the lead. Custer went to the outside of Hamlin and Cindric to make it three wide. Custer went down and got turned by Chase Briscoe and he spun down into Denny Hamlin turning Hamlin around while Corey LaJoie spun to the inside triggering the 4th big wreck of the race. The wreck collected a total of 11 cars as the cars involved were Denny Hamlin, Cole Custer, Corey LaJoie, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, John Hunter Nemechek, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Cody Ware, Justin Haley, and Austin Dillon. William Byron, who was 7th at the time of the crash, managed to avoid the pile-up and take the lead, with Tyler Reddick right behind him. With no caution being flown, Byron held off Reddick to win his second consecutive Daytona 500, becoming the first driver to win consecutive Daytona 500 races since Denny Hamlin in 2019 and 2020. Jimmie Johnson filled out the podium, his first podium finish since August 2020, when he finished third in the second of consecutive 500-kilometer races held that weekend. Chase Briscoe, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top 5 while Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10. This the first time the Jimmie Johnson led Legacy Motor Club put two cars in the top five, while this was Justin Allgaier's first Cup Series top 10 since 2015 while also giving JR Motorsports their first Cup Series top 10 finish. [19]
