Byron Records Vegas Top Five Despite Topsy Turvy Strategy

William Byron in action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (HHP/Harold Hinson photo)

LAS VEGAS – Even when a driver misses out on the ultimate prize of winning, a good result in a chaos-filled race shouldn’t be overlooked.

Although he had a car capable of being in victory lane Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, William Byron continued his early-season hot streak for Hendrick Motorsports in Sin City.

Byron finished fourth in the Pennzoil 400 and recorded his third finish of sixth place or better since Circuit of the Americas three weeks ago. Additionally, the 27-year-old collected his third top five of the young NASCAR Cup Series season.

“When everything got flipped with the fuel strategy – not really pit strategy because you had to pit to make it to the end of the race – but everything just got flipped around and we were on the bad side of that, having to restart in the 20s and having to drive back through the field,” said Byron of the remainder of the race.

“I thought we did a good job getting back through the field. Our car was a lot tighter in traffic,” Byron added. “There are definitely some things for us to improve and work on, because I feel like once we lost the first couple of rows, it was a completely different race car. We just have to continue to improve on that.”

Byron led 10 laps to raise his season total to 110 in the first five races, while collecting eight stage points with a second place result in stage two. However, what prevented a potential race win was the strategy of staying out long for fuel, which was orchestrated by drivers like Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez.

Some drivers attempted to split the final stage with around 60 laps to go and pit around 30 laps left, while others like Byron and his teammate Kyle Larson attempted to claw themselves back through the field after being on a different strategy.

But Josh Berry and the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 team were strong all day, rolled the dice perfectly, and executed better to decide the correct gamble in Las Vegas, even though Byron might have had the strongest car on raw speed.

“Overall, I’m happy with the result for the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet team. We had a good car. We definitely had one of the best cars, if the race would have played out normally,” said Byron. “We just didn’t really have a chance to get back up there at the end.”

The Charlotte, N.C., native will have a chance to get back up front and lead laps next when the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway. In his career at the 1.5-mile South Florida oval, Byron owns one prior win and top-six finishes in each of the last two years.

In 2021 at Homestead, Byron grabbed the second win of his Cup Series career.

Broadcast coverage of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 is slated for Sunday, March 23 at 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.