By going from ninth to first place on the final lap of the 67th annual Daytona 500, William Byron became only the fifth driver in the history of the "Great American Race" to win it in back-to-back years.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver knew it was a longshot, even after making the move to seventh by the time he reached the back straightaway of the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona International Speedway oval. But he always believed.
"In some ways, I did," Byron told Beyond the Flag, when asked if he felt a win was still possible after starting the last lap. "Just because anything can happen in these races."
The six cars ahead of him were all either collected and/or boxed in by a wreck, and Byron was able to sneak past on the outside and take the lead. The caution flag did not fly, and he held off 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick to etch his name into the history books.
"I feel like you put yourself in the position at the end of the race just to have a shot to have a good finish, and run and compete for the win," he continued. "So yeah, I think that I just stayed optimistic and hoped that I could put myself in a good spot.
"I was definitely very fortunate and just felt like I was at the right place, right time, for sure. I had made one move right before that just to position myself in the right place, and I felt like I kind of made my bed at that point, so I was just going to stay in the throttle and try to be on the other side of it. And fortunately, I was."
Given the nature of superspeedway racing, a lot of it does come down to being at the right place at the right time. Yet Byron already has five superspeedway wins, tied for the second most among active drivers, and he is only 27.
So it's not all luck.
"I think you honestly control what you can control," he stated. "There have been a lot of races where I've crashed out or not finished, but the races that we're in contention, I feel like we've capitalized, and that's just a testament to our preparation and sort of just the way that we go about it."
But Byron's faith goes far beyond his belief that a race isn't over until it's over.
"Yeah, it's been a huge part of my career," Byron said of his Christian faith. "I think ever since I got started racing. I grew up in a Christian home, a Presbyterian church."
He's not forgetting where he came from, and he's still using that faith as the focal point and the foundation for his journey.
"I think once I got out on my own and really felt the significance of my faith through my journey, and not only racing, but just in life," he explained.
Byron attended Liberty University, a Christian school in Virginia, and his racing career has been sponsored by the private school long before he reached the Cup Series. His first Cup Series victory also came at Daytona in the 2020 Coke Zero Sugar 400, and Liberty was the primary sponsor on his No. 24 Chevrolet.
Byron's journey to the Cup Series is a story of faith and perseverance in and of itself; he didn't do it the traditional way. He got started on iRacing, and he eventually got the opportunity to drive a Legends car in real life.
It quickly became evident that, even with well over 100 iRacing wins, he was actually more talented in a physical race car than he was online.
"I think at the local level, it's not really a team boss, per se, but it's just driving for people," Byron, who hails from Charlotte, explained when asked how he used iRacing as a tool to generate a real-life NASCAR career.
"I was fortunate enough to have the ability to go out to the race track here in North Carolina, and there were a lot of Legends car crew chiefs out there, and guys that had cars. So for me, I just worked my way into that ecosystem, with racing the Legends cars, and started out test driving. ...
"[Crew chief] Dennis Lambert helped me after that. So I think I’m fortunate that I grew up in North Carolina for sure, and around the race tracks, and then I was able to work my way forward from there."
Even in the virtual world, NASCAR was Byron's true passion.
"I would play around with other stuff, but I think mostly just did the NASCAR stuff," he admitted. "I felt like that really correlated well, and that's just what I was passionate about."
He won the K&N Pro Series East championship in 2015, would have won the 2016 Truck Series championship if not for an engine failure, and won the 2017 Xfinity Series championship before graduating to the Cup Series with Rick Hendrick's team in 2018.
Unsurprisingly, when NASCAR was shut down due to virus-related restrictions in early 2020, Byron was the driver to beat in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, winning three out of six races before going on to secure his first real Cup Series win later in the year.
Yet even as the reigning Daytona 500 winner, he wasn't considered one of the favorites to win this year's race.
After being referred to as the "other guy" at Hendrick Motorsports last year, he responded with a Daytona 500 win, and this year, it was the fact that he was overlooked by the sportsbooks which provided him with that added motivation.
"Yeah, I think any time you can have some sort of motivation, it's great," he said. "We've been the favorite at times in the last few years, and it's great to be that as well, but I feel like any time you can use something as fuel, it's added motivation."
But that fuel isn't the only thing that motivates him, as his stance and willingness to express his faith in Jesus Christ is consistent with what it's been for his entire career.
Even going back to his rookie Daytona 500 in 2018, he earned a shoutout from Revered Franklin Graham, son of the late world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, for being openly willing to both share and lean on his faith.
Seven years later, Byron hasn't changed. Just look at his social media bios.
"I feel like it's really led me to certain decisions and being around certain people, and following your heart and what your dreams are."
Those dreams have been realized two years in a row now, as Byron has joined the very short list of back-to-back winners of the "Great American Race". Richard Petty did it in 1973 and 1974, Cale Yarborough did it in 1983 and 1984, Sterling Marlin did it in 1994 and 1995, and Denny Hamlin did it in 2019 and 2020.
Now he has a chance to pull off the first ever Daytona 500 three-peat. But he made extra sure to enjoy this year's triumph first.
"I think even greater, really," he said of this year's celebration, compared to last year's. "I feel like last year the emotions were high, but there's still a lot of season left and a lot of things to accomplish, and the same thing this year, but I just feel like I've had a chance to reflect on it more this time around and really enjoy it. So that's been really special.
"It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I feel like the biggest things are just getting a chance to celebrate with the team and getting a chance to do the media tour and everything like that. It's a lot of fun. You don't get that opportunity very often, so it's pretty special."
Byron added two more wins last year and advanced to his second consecutive Championship 4, but he fell shy of winning his first Cup Series title. This year, he is the points leader through four races and remains among the top three championship favorites at most sportsbooks.