William Byron’s historic back-to-back Daytona 500 wins by the numbers
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron made history Sunday night when he became the fifth back-to-back winner of the Daytona 500.
Byron joined the likes of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Denny Hamlin and Sterling Marlin as the only back-to-back winners in the 67-year history of the 500.
At 27 years, two months and 18 days old, Byron is the youngest multi-time Daytona 500 champion, breaking Jeff Gordon’s record. Gordon was 27 years, six months and 10 days old when he won his second Daytona 500 in 1999.
“I hope he breaks them all. I’m full support of that,” Gordon said.
“I have a long way to go. What do I need, 93 wins or something? Yeah, honestly, just when I got in the car, I was super uncomfortable with all the pressure and everything that comes with driving the 24 car,” Byron said. “Now it’s like, okay, we’re building our own team, we have cool paint schemes, we have awesome sponsors. And it’s starting to all come together.”
Byron also became the youngest driver to earn back-to-back wins in the 500:
- Byron: 27 years old (2025, year of second consecutive win)
- Petty: 36 (1974)
- Marlin: 37 (1995)
- Hamlin: 39 (2020)
- Yarborough: 44 (1984)
Byron also made Daytona 500 history by securing two wins in a row in the fewest starts. He is tied with Dale Jarrett for having the third-fewest starts in the Daytona 500 before getting to two wins:
Start no. of second Daytona 500 win (start no. of second-consecutive win):
- Richard Petty: 6 (14)
- Jeff Gordon: 7
- William Byron: 8 (8)
- Dale Jarrett: 8
- Bill Elliott: 9
- Jimmie Johnson: 12
- Matt Kenseth: 13
- Sterling Marlin: 14 (14)
- Denny Hamlin: 14 (15)
- Cale Yarborough: 15 (22)
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 15
- Michael Waltrip: 17
- Bobby Allison: 19
Byron is only the second driver to earn consecutive Daytona 500 wins as his first wins in the race. Marlin is the other.
Austin Cindric, who raced for the win on Sunday before the big wreck on the final lap, has one last opportunity to tie Petty next year. Cindric won the Daytona 500 in his second start in the race, in 2022, and 2026 will be his sixth 500 start.
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com