William Byron launches Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary season with win in Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — William Byron launched Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary season by snapping the team’s nine-year Daytona 500 losing streak with a win Monday in the rain-delayed “Great American Race.”

The last Hendrick driver to win the Daytona 500 was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014. The 26-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, is the sixth different driver to win the 500 for Rick Hendrick, the winningest team owner in NASCAR history who made his way to victory lane on the actual 40th anniversary of his first Cup win.