William Byron, Denny Hamlin in sharp focus as Daytona 500 arrives

The twice-postponed Clash is in the rearview mirror, and NASCAR’s top drivers have headed to the Sunshine State for the 68th Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Two-time defending winner William Byron and Denny Hamlin arrive in Daytona Beach, Fla., on the verge of entering rarified air.

If Byron is the first to the checkers in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Sunday’s 200-lapper, he would become just the fifth driver to click off three 500 wins.

But in the previous 67 runnings, no winner has ever reeled off three straight checkered flags. Not seven-time winner Richard Petty nor four-time victor Cale Yarborough, the only wheelmen ever to elevate themselves past three career victories.

Byron, 28, is one of five drivers to ever record consecutive 500 triumphs, after Hamlin (2019, 2020), Sterling Marlin (1994, 1995), Yarborough (1983, 1984) and Petty (1973, 1974).

Byron, who enters his ninth Cup Series season with 16 total victories, would give owner Rick Hendrick his 11th in the Great American Race and allow Byron to match Hamlin, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Allison and Jeff Gordon with exactly three wins of the sport’s crown jewel.

“I get reminders of the previous races, whether I see just the videos or whatnot,” Byron said Wednesday. “Yeah, it’s great career-defining moments that we’ve had. It’s awesome. It’s special. But I don’t really think ahead too much. I just think about what it’s going to take in these next couple days leading up to it.”

However, Byron ran into trouble Thursday, wrecking his No. 24 in Duel No. 1, and will race with a backup car Sunday.

Meanwhile, Hamlin will try to find some sense of normalcy: in his life, with his health and on the track.

During a difficult, tragic November and December, Hamlin lost his chance at his first Cup championship in the final laps at Phoenix to Kyle Larson as Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota, which led 208 laps, was driving away on an emotional win dedicated to his ailing father.

Then, as 2025 was ending, Hamlin’s father died following a house fire at the parents’ home. The son is also not fully healthy, as Hamlin chose not to have surgery for a torn labrum that had been surgically repaired before but was re-injured in a fall while walking through the house’s burned wreckage.

“It’s just going to take a little while to kind of get back in the swing of things,” said Hamlin, 45. “You know, it certainly has not been an easy offseason by any means, and I’m sure I’m probably in a different headspace than most of the competitors that have been rip-roaring, ready to go racing the last month or so.

“I’m probably in a different spot than that. I would certainly appreciate a few more months, but I don’t have that. But we’ll just kind of see how it goes.”

So there will be another season for Hamlin to grapple with, a new Chase point system to figure out and another Daytona 500 this Sunday.

Polesitter Kyle Busch will lead the pack to green, while Joey Logano and Chase Elliott will be ones to watch after their Duel qualifying victories Thursday.

Hamlin could certainly win Sunday — his Daytona 500 record shows it. However, that next phone call he will want to make, to the person who started it all, will be his hardest to reconcile because it can’t be made.

–Field Level Media