NASCAR

William Byron prevails at Daytona for second straight Xfinity victory

AP

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — William Byron got his second win of the season, and this time he got to do it in front of his bosses.

Williams Byron celebrates his second career Xfinity win.

Byron won his second consecutive Xfinity Series race on Saturday by leading a 1-2 finish at Daytona International Speedway for JR Motorsports. Byron raced to his first career Xfinity victory last weekend at Iowa, but team owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick weren't at the track to see him.

This time, Hendrick was the first person to the window of his car in victory lane. The 19-year-old became the youngest series winner at Daytona.

He used a push from teammate Elliott Sadler to clear the traffic on the restart. Byron was aided when Erik Jones was knocked out of line, and it gave Byron a clear lead.

An accident behind the lead pack caused the race to end under yellow.

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"I have to go around one more time, right?" Byron radioed his crew about the procedures. He did a celebratory burnout and was interviewed live by NBC Sports on the frontretch for the crowd to hear in a new wrinkle from the network.

"This is so cool to win in Daytona," Byron said. "We've had a great last three weeks. We're bringing faster cars, executing better and as a team we're getting more and more confident."

Byron was prepared to stick around Saturday night ant watch the Cup race, which is being billed as the last at Daytona for retiring driver Earnhardt Jr. The owner of the winning Xfinity Series car was scheduled to start from the pole in Saturday night's main event.

"Dale is so good here and I've watched a lot of his stuff, seen how he side drafts," Byron said. "I never thought I'd win one of these things and I've kind of learned some things watching him."

Sadler was second, followed by Dakoda Armstrong, Jeb Burton and David Starr.

Rain postponed the race from Friday night until Saturday, and then a second weather delay of nearly two hours made for a lengthy 250 miles.

Seven drivers were scheduled to run both the Xfinity Series race and the 400-mile Cup race.

*****

FULL RESULTS: Firecracker 250

1. (3) William Byron, Chevrolet, 104 laps, 0 rating, 49 points.
2. (7) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 51.
3. (21) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 104, 0, 42.
4. (17) Jeb Burton, Toyota, 104, 0, 36.
5. (33) David Starr, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 32.
6. (1) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 43.
7. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 104, 0, 0.
8. (34) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 29.
9. (9) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 28.
10. (31) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 27.
11. (30) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 26.
12. (37) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 104, 0, 25.
13. (24) Scott Lagasse Jr, Toyota, 104, 0, 24.
14. (38) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 23.
15. (2) Ben Kennedy, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 33.
16. (36) Timmy Hill, Dodge, 104, 0, 21.
17. (6) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 104, 0, 25.
18. (16) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 22.
19. (40) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 18.
20. (15) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 0.
21. (19) Cole Custer, Ford, 104, 0, 16.
22. (35) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 104, 0, 15.
23. (22) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 15.
24. (14) Erik Jones, Toyota, 104, 0, 0.
25. (29) Chris Cockrum, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 12.
26. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 104, 0, 11.
27. (13) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, accident, 103, 0, 17.
28. (27) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, accident, 102, 0, 9.
29. (39) Mark Thompson, Toyota, accident, 102, 0, 8.
30. (25) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, accident, 100, 0, 7.
31. (12) Ryan Reed, Ford, accident, 100, 0, 6.
32. (5) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, accident, 99, 0, 12.
33. (11) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, accident, 98, 0, 9.
34. (23) Casey Mears, Ford, accident, 98, 0, 7.
35. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, accident, 98, 0, 2.
36. (26) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, reargear, 94, 0, 1.
37. (28) Brandon Brown, Chevrolet, accident, 50, 0, 1.
38. (4) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, accident, 50, 0, 11.
39. (8) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, accident, 50, 0, 0.
40. (32) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, accident, 50, 0, 1.

RACE STATISTICS:

Average speed of winner: 115.100 mph.
Time of race: 2 hours, 13 minutes, 56 seconds.
Margin of victory: Under caution.
Caution flags: 9 for 35 laps.
Lead changes: 18 among 10 drivers.

Lap leaders: B.Poole 0; B.Kennedy 1; B.Poole 2; B.Kennedy 3; B.Koch 4-15; D.Suarez 16; B.Koch 17-32; J.Allgaier 33-34; B.Poole 35-41; B.Kennedy 42-43; T.Dillon 44-48; B.Poole 49-53; E.Sadler 54-58; B.Jones 59; E.Sadler 60-61; W.Byron 62-83; T.Dillon 84-91; J.Logano 92-97; W.Byron 98-104

Leaders summary (driver, times led, laps led): W.Byron, 2 times for 27 laps; B.Koch, 2 times for 26 laps; T.Dillon, 2 times for 11 laps; B.Poole, 4 times for 10 laps; E.Sadler, 2 times for 5 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 5 laps; B.Kennedy, 3 times for 1 lap; J.Allgaier, 1 time for 1 lap; B.Jones, 1 time for 0 laps; D.Suarez, 1 time for 0 laps.

Wins: W.Byron, 2; E.Jones, 2; J.Allgaier, 1; J.Logano, 1; R.Reed, 1.

Top 10 in points: 1. E.Sadler, 553; 2. W.Byron, 494; 3. J.Allgaier, 484; 4. B.Poole, 379; 5. D.Hemric, 368; 6. R.Reed, 353; 7. C.Custer, 338; 8. M.Tifft, 335; 9. D.Armstrong, 318; 10. M.Annett, 313.