Daytona 500 race director admits to mistake over the weekend

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Owen Crisafulli | Last updated Feb 20, 2025 7:53 PM ET

The Daytona 500 took place on Sunday, Feb. 16, and for the second straight year, William Byron ended up winning the prestigious race. As is always the case with these sorts of big events, there are controversies that spark discussion among fans, with one of the biggest ones taking place during the second Duel qualifier.

The Duel qualifiers take place before the Daytona 500 gets underway to determine the starting position of the third to 40th drivers. At the end of the day, though, Byron ended up coming out on top again, which led to an incredulous reaction from him after the race was finished.

"You didn't see that coming, did you?! I'm being honest, at one point, neither did I," Byron said after his latest victory, per ESPN.

Ahead of the race, there was some controversy in the second Duel race, as Erik Jones initially won, but the caution flag came out before he crossed the finish line. Austin Cindric's car ended up being in front of Jones' when the caution flag came out, and he ended up winning the race.

It was surprising to see the yellow flag get brandished considering it was in response to a crash that took place in the middle of the pack and did not impact either Cindric or Jones. Looking back at the incident, NASCAR race director Jusan Hamilton admitted that he made the wrong call.

“So hindsight is always 20/20, and that’s one when you look back, I would say we could do it differently,” Hamilton said on the "Hauler Talk" podcast. “I would say that we could let them get to the start/finish line, but that’s looking back now on a Tuesday, going through all of our reviews and having the luxury of time to review the full situation.”

With a hectic weekend of events taking place at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR fans will now turn their attention toward the Ambetter Heath 400, which is set to take place on Sunday, Feb. 23.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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