(Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — William Byron fell three laps down early in the AdventHealth 400 because of an ill-handling racecar and a pit road penalty but managed to persevere back onto the lead lap to finish third at Kansas Speedway.
After starting from the pole position, Byron scraped the wall on Lap 4 and immediately battled a loose condition. He made his first pit stop on Lap 36 for four tires, fuel and adjustments but sped and had to serve a pass-through penalty.
Later in the stage while still just one lap down, Byron again hit the wall and pitted with a vibration. After the unscheduled stop, he was scored three laps off the pace.
After a series of cautions in Stage 2, Byron took the wave around multiple times to get back to just one lap down. On Lap 149, Erik Jones and Josh Berry crashed exiting Turn 2, allowing Byron to get back on the lead lap with the lucky dog.
Byron carved through the field, getting up to the 20th at the end of Stage 2 with 107 laps remaining. He benefitted from more cautions to open Stage 3 and radioed to his team that he felt more comfortable with his balance.
After gaining three positions on pit road during a Lap 207 caution, Byron restarted second and re-took the lead for eight circuits. Teammate Kyle Larson passed him on the next restart, as did eventual winner Denny Hamlin after a long battle, before holding off Bubba Wallace for the podium finish in the closing laps.
William Byron led the field to green after earning the pole in qualifying on Saturday. (Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
“It was an amazing effort by our No. 24 Liberty University Chevy team. We all but wrecked twice, went three laps down and came back to finish third – it’s just incredible,” Byron said. “It’s just a testament to the strength of this race team. The tail wasn’t exactly right there at the end. It was knocked over and the car was really loose towards the end of any longer run. A tough situation, but really happy with that effort. Just a great job by this whole Liberty University Chevy team. They gave us a really hard fight, so good to come home third.”
With his early race struggles, Byron failed to earn any stage points but still climbed from 11th to ninth in driver’s points. He was penalized 60 points following the race at Richmond Raceway for a greenhouse violation. Before Richmond, he was third in points. However, his back-to-back wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway lock him into the NASCAR Playoffs.
The Cup Series returns to action on Sunday, May 14 for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Byron finished second in the race last season after late contact with Joey Logano. The race is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
