Though he opened up the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with a second consecutive Daytona 500 victory, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron did not leave Daytona International Speedway as the points leader.
Between the Duel at Daytona qualifying race results, the results of the first two stages of the "Great American Race", and the Daytona 500 race results, it was actually Team Penske's Ryan Blaney who scored the most points during the first of 36 race weeks on the 2025 calendar. He finished the Daytona 500 in seventh place.
Blaney maintained the points lead after a fourth place finish in the following weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Byron had been positioned to take over at the top before a late wreck while battling for second place knocked him back to 27th.
But after Sunday's race at Circuit of the Americas, Byron is now on top.
Byron was unable to go back-to-back at COTA like he did in the Daytona 500, but his runner-up finish behind Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, coupled with Blaney's 19th finish, resulted in him taking the points lead for the first time in 2025.
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet has a two-point lead over the driver of the No. 12 Ford through the first three races on the 26-race regular season schedule. 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, who has finished behind Byron by exactly one spot in two of three races this season, trails him by five points in third place.
Bell is only in a fourth place tie with Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott, despite his back-to-back victories at Atlanta and COTA, since he crashed out of the Daytona 500 and finished in 31st place.
The fourth race on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Shriners Children's 500, which is scheduled to take place at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday, March 9. Fox is set to provide live coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!