Denny Hamlin appeared poised for victory as he battled Austin Cindric for the lead, but a late wreck dashed his hopes, leaving him to finish 24th while William Byron claimed his second consecutive Daytona 500 win. Describing the result, Hamlin posted a strong reaction on X, stating “That s**ked.”

Being a three-time winner at Daytona International Speedway, Hamlin has experienced huge success. However, considering that his chances of a fourth victory were ruled out after the wreck, the 44-year-old was surprised and questioned why NASCAR didn’t waive the caution flags. He told the media:

“I need to see the other wrecks, but I knew they were wrecking. We were surprised we kept going. Once I realized that they were not going to throw the yellow, all I focused on then was let me get a run on this 2 (Austin Cindric) and get beside him and win this race. Apparently, I think they went green all the way to the checkered. I was destroyed.”

Hamlin then revealed NASCAR’s potential reaction to the incident. He stated:

“They’ll react. When they feel like they get trashed socially on a call, then they’ll go the other way on the next one. Either way, we weren’t going to win, so I don’t care.”

Having won “The Great American Race” multiple times, Hamlin was asked how he perceived the iconic race. He said:

“For me, I try to tell people that we tell people that we try so hard when we are kids, we are trying to get to the highest form of motorsports, but to win its biggest race is one of the things that we aspire to do.

“To have done it three times is certainly special. If any of you have the question on what will the fourth mean, I can’t answer that. I tried to figure out what it would mean to win one, and I didn’t have any idea until I won one, and I didn’t have any idea, until after I won two, what two meant. It is all really, really hard to put into words – but the attention when you come back, you are in an elite class of drivers that have won this multiple times. It is just one of those things that stays on your resume forever.”

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2024 Daytona 500 Cup Series Results

1. W. Byron, Chevrolet, #24, Finished, 41
2. T. Reddick, Toyota, #45, Finished, 0
3. J. Johnson, Toyota, #84, Finished, 34
4. C. Briscoe, Toyota, #19, Finished, 33
5. J. Nemechek, Toyota, #42, Finished, 32
6. A. Bowman, Chevrolet, #48, Finished, 42
7. R. Blaney, Ford, #12, Finished, 48
8. A. Cindric, Ford, #2, Finished, 38
9. J. Allgaier, Chevrolet, #40, Finished, 28
10. C. Buescher, Ford, #17, Finished, 32
11. M. McDowell, Chevrolet, #71, Finished, 27
12. E. Jones, Toyota, #43, Finished, 31
13. D. Suárez, Chevrolet, #99, Finished, 29
14. T. Dillon, Chevrolet, #10, Finished, 23
15. C. Elliott, Chevrolet, #9, Finished, 30
16. T. Gibbs, Toyota, #54, Finished, 21
17. R. Herbst, Toyota, #35, Finished, 20
18. R. Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, #47, Finished, 26
19. J. Haley, Chevrolet, #7, Finished, 18
20. K. Larson, Chevrolet, #5, Finished, 17
21. C. Custer, Ford, #41, Finished, 16
22. C. LaJoie, Ford, #01, Finished, 15
23. A. Dillon, Chevrolet, #3, Finished, 14
24. D. Hamlin, Toyota, #11, Finished, 13
25. C. Ware, Ford, #51, DNF, 12
26. B. Keselowski, Ford, #6, Finished, 20
27. T. Gilliland, Ford, #34, Finished, 16
28. N. Gragson, Ford, #4, Finished, 9
29. D. Wallace Jr., Toyota, #23, DNF, 10
30. C. Hocevar, Chevrolet, #77, DNF, 7
31. C. Bell, Toyota, #20, DNF, 12
32. R. Preece, Ford, #60, DNF, 5
33. S. van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, #88, Finished, 4
34. K. Busch, Chevrolet, #8, DNF, 4
35. J. Logano, Ford, #22, DNF, 15
36. Z. Smith, Ford, #38, DNF, 1
37. J. Berry, Ford, #21, DNF, 1
38. M. Truex Jr., Toyota, #56, DNF, 1
39. H. Castroneves, Chevrolet, #91, DNF, 0
40. R. Chastain, Chevrolet, #1, DNF, 1
41. A. J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, #16, DNF, 1