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William Byron drove the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a second-place finish in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, the first of three races in the postseason's Round of 12. Byron also won Stage 1 in the race, and collected a total 52 points on the day, more than any other driver in the field. That points haul vaulted Byron into the lead in the championship point standings.
SPEED READ
With qualifying on Saturday, William Byron secured a sixth-place starting position for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.
The driver of the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 went on to capture the stage one win and followed it up with a fourth-place effort in stage two.
Maneuvering his way through the field after a stage break pit stop, Byron powered his way to the front, resulting in a second-place finish Sunday evening.
After the race at Kansas, Byron is leading the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings, 34 points above the cutline heading into the second race of the Round of 12.
RECAPPING THE RACE
With the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 starting at Kansas Speedway, William Byron and the No. 24 team unloaded with speed, securing a sixth-place qualifying effort. When the field went green on Sunday afternoon, the driver of the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 reached fourth after a brief caution to start the race. As the run continued, Byron said his handling was “a little loose.” With the caution coming out on lap 19, crew chief Rudy Fugle called his driver down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Restarting sixth, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native quickly made his way up past third into the second running position. The stage continued to go green, and Byron did his best to reel the leader in. With eight laps to go, Byron was able to take over the top spot and went on to capture the stage one win, collecting a playoff point in the process. Under the stage break, Byron came down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to try give him “more security on exit.”
Lining up on the outside of the front row for the start of stage two, Byron retained the lead and continued to pace the field until the caution came out on lap 97. The 26-year-old driver reported that he would need an adjustment to help his long run handling, so he came down pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. With different tire strategies taking place, Byron lined up third for the restart on lap 104. He maintained his top-five running position initially but eventually dropped back to sixth and reported that he lacked front turn. With the yellow flag displayed at lap 143, Fugle called his driver down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Restarting seventh with under 20 laps to go in the stage, Byron reached sixth before the caution came out once again. Lining up from that position with a four-lap shootout to the stage end, Byron managed to make his way inside the top five, scoring a fourth-place result in stage two. Under the stage break, Byron came down pit road to the attention of his Valvoline team for four tires and fuel.
With some cars electing to flip the last stage, Byron lined up 22nd for the start of the final segment. However, that didn’t intimidate the driver of the No. 24 who picked up six positions on the first lap back green. Byron continued his impressive march to the front, reaching the top 10 within three laps and was inside the top five by lap 187. Still fighting a “free” No. 24 Valvoline Chevy, Fugle called his driver down pit road under green from the fourth position on lap 211 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Once the green-flag pit cycle was complete, Byron had re-assumed the fourth position with 46 laps to go. He maintained that position before moving up to third when the caution came out 14 laps later. Under the yellow, Byron came down pit road for the final time for four tires, fuel and a slight air pressure adjustment for the shorter run. Restarting sixth with a couple cars electing to stay out, Byron quickly maneuvered his way to the fourth position just as the yellow flag was displayed again. Choosing the low lane this time, Byron lined up third with 20 laps remaining. He wasted no time though taking over second and setting his sights on the leader. As the laps wound down, Byron did the best he could to make up ground but ultimately ran out of time, scoring a second-place finish.
Byron led his Hendrick Motorsports teammates to the finish line Sunday at Kansas Speedway with a runner-up result. Both Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott picked up top-10 finishes in sixth- and ninth-place. While Kyle Larson crossed the line in 26th after having to battle back from a flat tire early on in the event.
QUOTING THE No. 24 TEAM:
It looks like you were chasing down Ross Chastain. Just needed a little bit more. What would have made the difference there at the end?
“Yeah, just clean air. I feel like he got the restart he needed to, and I was in the second row just trying to clear those guys. Once I got clear of them, my balance was okay. Just a little bit tight, but just kind of inching up on him. I needed probably, you know, for it to be a longer run being in second.
“Damn it, I wanted that one really bad. It just sucks, man. You're so close, and you know going to Talladega you know what that is. So just sucks, but proud of the effort.
Brought an awesome car. Proud of all my guys. They've been working their tails off. We've gotten a lot of BS over the summer from the outside and just I know how good this team is, and I know what we're capable of. So this is a great day to build on.
“Thanks to Valvoline. Thanks to all our partners, Raptor, Axalta, Liberty. Looking forward to Talladega. We're usually good there, and we'll just see how that goes.”
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