William Byron Steals Cup Playoff Victory At Texas

William Byron took the lead with a three-wide pass on a restart with six laps remaining and held off the field to claim the victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway.

It marks a historic 300th victory for the Hendrick Motorsports organization – the most in NASCAR history for a NASCAR Cup Series team – and is the series-best, personal-high single-season sixth victory of the year for. He came from third place on the final restart to ultimately drive away from the field and take a 1.863-second victory ahead of Ross Chastain to claim an automatic berth in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.

Those final six laps out front were the only laps Byron led all day. He pulled ahead of Bubba Wallace, who was out front on the final restart after leading a race-high, career-best 111 laps. Wallace finished third, ahead of Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. All five drivers are among the 2023 Playoff contingent.

“I finally got a good re-start at the end, and number 300 for Hendrick Motorsports, but (teammate) Kyle (Larson) really deserved this one, I’ve got to say, those guys were really fast all day and I hate it for them in the end,” Byron said, noting his teammate Larson’s crash while leading with 20 laps remaining.

“But man, it was awesome getting this car to the front. My car loved clean air. We just fought through traffic all day. My Liberty University Chevrolet was just tight back in traffic but had good pace. … it was a grind-it-out day and our team was there at the end and I’m really proud of this one as hot as it was, it was tough. We’ll take it and go on to the next round.”

As for the historic 300th win for his team, Byron said, “I don’t know if I can even put it into words, I was such a Hendrick Motorsports fan growing up as a kid, watching Jimmie Johnson and became really fond of Jeff Gordon as I got to know him. Just thankful for all the men and women back at Hendrick Motorsports. … just appreciate all Rick Hendrick has done for me. This is awesome. We’re really going to enjoy this one.”

Wallace, who turned in a career day in his first career Playoff stint, was obviously disappointed in the final outcome. He started from pole position and his triple-digit laps out front were a personal best.

“Just choked,” Wallace said. “My worst re-start (of the day). Hate it for my team, hate it for (sponsor) McDonald’s. We deserved to be in victory lane but nothing’s ever guaranteed, you have to go out and fight for it and not give it away and that’s what I did.

“We struggled a little in traffic but kept our heads in the game, made great strategy calls all day and had track position. So good points day.”

Larson had been out front for 34 laps and was racing alongside Wallace when his car got loose with 17 laps remaining and flushed into the outside wall. He looked strong all day leading 99 laps himself as Wallace’s strongest competitor for most of the afternoon.

“We just went in there side-by-side and I lost it,” said Larson, who finished 31st. “Pretty bummed, but happy for William and Mr. H. (Hendrick) Three hundred Cup series wins is incredible and a great night overall for our organization.”

Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski. – also a Playoff driver – Daniel Suárez, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top 10.

Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott ran among the top 10 most of the day, but ended his day with an 11th place finish.

There were 11 caution periods on the day and multiple issues for the 12 Playoff drivers competing in the three-round series of races to decide which eight will advance to the next round. Byron’s victory is an automatic ticket. Several other Playoff drivers had impactful days – for the good and bad – as well.

Among the other Playoff competitors, Chris Buescher finished 14th and Martin Truex, Jr. – the regular season champion – finished 17th. Defending race winner Tyler Reddick was 25th.

Ryan Blaney (28th), Larson, (31st) and Kyle Busch (34th) all suffered DNFs – all involved in incidents.

It was indicative of the afternoon with 10 Playoff drivers experiencing some sort of setback – from crashes, to pit road penalties to pit road issues.

Bell had jack issues early. Hamlin had a pit road door-to-door collision with his teammate Ty Gibbs but was able to continue, while Gibbs’ Toyota suffered enough damage he had to retire early.

Busch’s Chevrolet slammed into the outside wall only a couple laps after the two-time series champion had radioed to his team that he thought he had a front tire going down. He stayed out on track and ultimately suffered a rear tire failure on lap 74, that slammed his Chevrolet hard into the wall. Busch drove it backwards all the way around the track and onto pit road, but his team was unable to repair it.

“I was going to come to pit road and I second-guessed it and said, ‘I don’t think so, something’s wrong, something’s not right but it’s not a flat,’” Busch said. “Then all on its own, it just turned to the bottom of the race track in turn 1, just swapped ends on me.

“Hate it for everybody. For sure I thought our car was top five today.”

With the victory, Byron earned the automatic ticket to the next round. Hamlin now leads the points standings by 37 points on the ninth place elimination line. Buescher (plus-22), Bell (plus-20), Truex (plus-19), Chastain (plus-12), Keselowski (plus-8) and Larson (plus-2) round out the top eight.

Wallace is the first driver below the elimination line – two points behind Larson. Reddick is three points off the elimination line, followed by Blaney (-11) and Busch (-17).

NASCAR Cup Series
Texas Motor Speedway – Fort Worth, TX
AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 – September 24, 2023

1. (18) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
2. (5) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 267.
3. (1) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 267.
4. (9) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
5. (10) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
6. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.
7. (3) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 267.
8. (8) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
9. (24) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
10. (31) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 267.
11. (29) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
12. (14) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (2) Chris Buescher (P), Ford, 267.
15. (17) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
16. (19) Carson Hocevar(i), Chevrolet, 267.
17. (16) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, 267.
18. (21) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.
19. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (30) Harrison Burton, Ford, 267.
21. (20) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
22. (34) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 267.
23. (25) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.
24. (33) Zane Smith(i), Ford, 267.
25. (15) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 267.
26. (27) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 262.
27. (32) Austin Cindric, Ford, Accident, 261.
28. (23) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, Accident, 258.
29. (6) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 255.
30. (12) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 255.
31. (11) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, DVP, 248.
32. (35) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, Accident, 241.
33. (4) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, Accident, 77.
34. (7) Kyle Busch (P), Chevrolet, DVP, 73.
35. (36) Todd Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 52.
36. (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 40.

Average Speed: 123.569 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 28 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.863 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 11 for 55 laps.

Lead Changes: 22 among 13 drivers.

Lap Leaders: B. Wallace (P) 1-38;A. Allmendinger 39;A. Bowman 40;T. Dillon 41-43;C. Elliott (P) 44;B. Wallace (P) 45-57;R. Chastain (P) 58;B. Wallace (P) 59-76;C. Buescher (P) 77-78;T. Reddick (P) 79-114;J. Yeley(i) 115;B. Wallace (P) 116-142;K. Larson (P) 143-167;E. Jones 168;A. Cindric 169;K. Larson (P) 170;E. Jones 171;K. Larson (P) 172-210;E. Jones 211;J. Yeley(i) 212;K. Larson (P) 213-246;B. Wallace (P) 247-261;W. Byron (P) 262-267.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Bubba Wallace (P) 5 times for 111 laps; Kyle Larson (P) 4 times for 99 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 36 laps; William Byron (P) 1 time for 6 laps; Erik Jones 3 times for 3 laps; Ty Dillon 1 time for 3 laps; JJ Yeley(i) 2 times for 2 laps; Chris Buescher (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 1 lap; AJ Allmendinger 1 time for 1 lap; Alex Bowman 1 time for 1 lap; Chase Elliott (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 45,17,20,24,34,9,12,14,11,23

Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,43,11,12,17,9,6,1,23,99

Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron* – 3083 (6 Wins); 2. Denny Hamlin – 3074 (3 Wins); 3. Chris Buescher – 3059 (3 Wins); 4. Christopher Bell – 3057 (1 Win); 5. Martin Truex, Jr. – 3056 (3 Wins); 6. Ross Chastain – 3049 (1 Win); 7. Brad Keselowski – 3045; 8. Kyle Larson – 3039 (3 Wins); 9. Bubba Wallace – 3037; 10. Tyler Reddick – 3036 (2 Wins); 11. Ryan Blaney – 3028 (1 Win); 12. Kyle Busch – 3022 (3 Wins).

*Locked Into The Round of 8

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series