William Byron took the lead from teammate Kyle Larson with 59 laps to go and ended up beating Tyler Reddick by 2.7 seconds, to win the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. Byron, who started the race 31st, picks up his first win at the 1.5-mile track, which is his second career NASCAR Cup Series win. The victory is also the 216th for Byron's car owner Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports.
"I can't even believe it!" said the Charlotte, NC native during his post-race interview. "Just a really smooth day, we worked really hard (practicing) on this track (in the offseason). Hard work pays off!"
Martin Truex Jr finished third, Larson fourth, and Kevin Harvick fifth. Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10. Harvick and McDowell are the only drivers left to have three top 10's in the first three races.
With Byron's victory, a Hendrick Motorsports driver has won a race for the 36th consecutive season.
FOX Sports' prerace show featured some humor when former driver Clint Bowyer, the newest addition of the FOX NASCAR broadcast team, was shown wearing a Tom Brady jersey. Prior to the Super Bowl, Bowyer had accepted a bet with former teammate Aric Almirola on who would win. Bowyer, a Kansas native, naturally went with the Kansas City Chiefs while Almirola, a native Floridian, supported the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. With Tampa Bay scoring the victory, Bowyer kept his end of the bet by wearing a Tom Brady jersey during the broadcast.
