In an electrifying 2024 Daytona 500 finish, William Byron, in his Axalta-sponsored No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, secured a landmark victory for Hendrick Motorsports, marking the team's 40th anniversary with a win that ties the record for most Daytona 500 victories.
The race, which was postponed to Feb. 19 due to inclement weather, concluded with Byron leading a Hendrick 1-2 finish just before a late caution sealed the race's outcome. Byron dedicated the win -- his 11th career victory and second at Daytona -- to his ailing father, reflecting on their shared passion for racing.
Byron, who is coming off a career-best 2023 campaign in which he earned six wins, wasted no time getting his first victory of 2024.
“I have so many emotions,” Byron said after the race. “I’m just so proud of this team, this whole Axalta team. … Now we just want to keep it going. We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start, obviously.”
The victory was also a perfect result to start the year for Hendrick Motorsports, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The organization’s first NASCAR Cup Series start came on Feb. 19, 1984, and now, exactly 40 years later, the team was able to celebrate another win in the “Great American Race.”
The result was Hendrick’s ninth Daytona 500 crown and its first since 2014. This was the No. 24 car’s fourth trip to victory lane in the Daytona 500, following Jeff Gordon’s 1997, 1999 and 2005 triumphs. Hendrick Motorsports is the first organization to win the event in five different decades.
“I’m telling you, you couldn’t write this script any better,” team owner Rick Hendrick said in victory lane. “24 in 24. … We win this on our 40th (anniversary) to the day, it’s just… and tied a record now, so that’s awesome.”
“It’s so cool,” said Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman and the former No. 24 driver. “What this is going to do for this team, for Axalta, and all of our partners, and William Byron. He was already a superstar. He just went to another level of being a superstar. I wasn’t driving the car but I felt like I was making every lap with him out there. It’s crazy to watch these guys do what they do and do it so well. And to watch it from this side of it it makes me so happy, so proud. We’re going to celebrate. This is an amazing win, huge win.”
This is Axalta’s 32nd year of partnership with Hendrick Motorsports.
