(Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — William Byron had a promising day go awry in the closing laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
While battling for the win on a restart with 21 laps to go, Christopher Bell bumped into Byron, sending him into the Turn 1 wall. The crash took Byron, who led a race-high 117 laps, out of contention to win.
“Looked like the 20 (Bell) got in and overcooked the corner and had the fronts locked up and I was the victim,” Byron said after the race. “Looks like they were all two, three wide. I was just doing a normal restart.
“Where we were on the restart starting fourth, I mean, you’re just hoping for a top-two [finish]. Not having the front row is tough. You don’t really get to manage the restart.”
Immediately after the race, Bell deflected the blame for the crash on Ross Chastain. Bell restarted third on the inside and Chastain dove below him, but the two never made contact. Bell later apologized.
“Banzai came in and put us three-wide,” Bell said. “The wrecking ball came in and made us three wide at the last second and there wasn’t enough room to be three wide.”
After watching the replay, I saw there was much more room than what I thought in the heat of the moment. Sorry @WilliamByron. https://t.co/ESQgXHjOtn
— Christopher Bell (@CBellRacing) April 3, 2023
Chastain was made aware of Bell’s comments and responded.
“I never saw [Byron],” Chastain said. “[Bell] can say what he wants. Like other guys, he walks right by me, he doesn’t say anything to me. I don’t think I touched anybody and he’s down there on my line.”
After the crash, Byron brought his No. 24 car to pit road to get scuffed tires and repair damage, which the team deemed minimal. He stayed on the lead lap and finished 24th.
Byron started the race in third and won Stage 1 to earn 10 points and a Playoff point. He finished Stage 2 in third, earning eight more points.
Byron and interim crew chief Brian Campe originally planned to split the final stage into thirds if the race stayed green. Byron pitted on Lap 291, but just 16 laps later, Noah Gragson hit the wall and brought out a caution.
(Photo: Mitchell Richtmyre | The Podium Finish)
The No. 24 team pitted and readjusted its strategy to split the remaining 92 laps in half. Byron made a pitstop with 50 laps to go and hoped the race would stay green. But Tyler Reddick spun with 28 to go to shake up strategy once again.
Byron pitted and the team put the final set of sticker tires on the car. Had he not crashed, Byron would have been in a golden position to race for the win.
“We had a great car. We did almost everything we could to put ourselves in a position to win,” Byron explained. “You get strung out, it’s a battle of tire management and it’s really more about what kind of tire you have left on the car than it is what aero characteristic around you.”
Hendrick Motorsports had a 1-2 finish with Kyle Larson winning his first race of the season and Josh Berry recording his career-best finish. Alex Bowman finished eighth.
If Byron won, it would’ve been his third victory of the season.
“We’re doing a good job,” Byron said. “It’s a long season, so got to keep it up.”
