(Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
AUSTIN, Texas — William Byron felt he had one of the two best cars on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas.
But after a series of late cautions, including three NASCAR Overtime attempts, Byron got shuffled back to a fifth-place finish in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
“We had a good racecar… I think a top-two race car I think, really, with the 45 [Tyler Reddick],” Byron explained after the race. “He was a lot better than everybody but I thought we were a close second. Good day for the Liberty University Chevrolet, and we’ll keep building on it.”
Byron led on Lap 63, five laps short of the scheduled distance before Reddick snuck past the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports car. A caution came out for Austin Dillon with four laps to go, beginning a chaotic sequence of green-white-checkered attempts.
Reddick, however, never got fazed. He successfully defended each restart attempt to win his first race with 23XI Racing. After battling with teammate Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain, Byron slipped back to fifth once the checkered flag finally flew.
“I probably could have done better on those restarts,” Byron said. “I just kept getting pushed wide, and it seemed like the last one didn’t happen for some reason. I just gave up too much track position … it was really my only option.
“Tyler [Reddick] is great and [his team was] great all weekend. Tyler’s been great on the road courses. We made it a battle for sure every time with crossovers, out-braking each other… that was a lot of fun. I hate that it kind of got down to restarts there at the end. I got shoved off one time in second.”
(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
Though he fell short of his third win in 2023, Byron still had a strong points day. He earned 42 points and the Stage 1 victory.
However, Byron and interim crew chief Brian Campe elected to go long. After leading for 10 laps, Byron pitted for the first time on Lap 23 to try and limit a stop later in the race. Byron surrendered track position and finished 12th in Stage 2.
Once pit stops shook out, Byron assumed a position out front, regaining the lead on Lap 33. He pitted again on Lap 42, but the late cautions neutralized some of the varying pit strategies.
Through six races, Byron is 22nd in driver’s points. Had NASCAR not confiscated louvers from his car at Phoenix Raceway and issued a 100-point penalty, Byron would have been second in driver’s points.
Byron was also docked 100 owner’s points and 10 Playoff points for the L2 violation. His crew chief, Rudy Fugle, was suspended for four races and fined $100,000.
Byron’s wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix keep him locked into the Playoffs. But for now, his focus is on regaining the lost points.
“We didn’t intend on really relaxing after a win anyways this year,” Byron said at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “So I think going into the next however many weeks that we’ve got until the playoffs, we’re going to push really hard. I think we’re just going to give it everything, every week.”
