After qualifying was canceled due to weather on Friday night, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron was slated to start Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in eighth place behind the wheel of his No. 24 Chevrolet, due to his metric score.
Byron, winner of this race in 2020 and two-time reigning Daytona 500 winner, will not get to start eighth, however, as a result of an infraction committed by the No. 24 team after the car had already passed technical inspection.
The team made a splitter adjustment, resulting in crew chief Rudy Fugle being ejected from the race. Additionally, the team lost pit selection, and Byron must drop to the rear of the 40-car field at the start. He must then do a stop and go penalty in the pits after taking the green flag.
There could certainly be more drivers sent to the rear between now and the start of this 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
But with all drivers slated to start behind Byron on the outside lane now set to move up one row each, here's an updated look at how the field is set to line up coming to the green flag on Saturday night.
William Byron penalized; updated Daytona starting lineup
1st - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
2nd - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
3rd - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
4th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
5th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
6th - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
7th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
8th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
9th - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
10th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
11th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
12th - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
13th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
14th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
15th - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
16th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
17th - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
18th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
19th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
20th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
21st - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
22nd - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
23rd - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
24th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
25th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
26th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
27th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
28th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
29th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
30th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
31st - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
32nd - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
33rd - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
34th - Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
35th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
36th - B.J McLeod, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet
37th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
38th - Joey Gase, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet
39th - Casey Mears, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
40th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Even if this penalty impacts his race result, however, Byron has already locked up this year's regular season championship and thus clinched the 15 bonus playoff points for the P1 points finish.
Tune in to NBC this evening at 7:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale!