(Photo: Molly Gastineau | The Podium Finish)
RICHMOND, Va. — On different pit strategies, Kevin Harvick and William Byron both fell short to Denny Hamlin in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
After two early cautions in the final stage, Harvick and Byron each planned strategies with their teams for the final 170 laps of the race. Byron pitted during a caution on Lap 248 and stayed out during the pit cycle on Lap 259. Harvick and Hamlin each pitted on the latter pit cycle to set themselves up for two more stops, while Byron planned for just one more.
“They made a great call,” Harvick said. “We had a decent car all day and were able to keep ourselves in contention.”
By staying out on Lap 259, Byron became the leader. He led until Lap 311, when he surrendered the lead for his final stop of the day. Once each car made its final stop of the race, Byron cycled back to the lead on Lap 326.
Byron had a sizeable lead, but slowly, Hamlin and Harvick inched closer on fresher tires. With five laps to go, Hamlin and Harvick ran down Byron and Martin Truex Jr., who had also elected to pit just once in the final stage. Hamlin and Harvick passed them both with ease as Hamlin won the race and Harvick finished second.
(Photo: Ryan Daley | The Podium Finish)
“We drove by the 24 and one corner and the 19 in another corner,” Harvick said. “The battle was with the 11 and hoping he would slip, and I tried to get by him.”
Byron slipped to third while Truex Jr. placed fourth.
“We just needed five less laps,” Byron said. “There’s nothing I could do about [Hamlin and Harvick].
“I’m just trying to put as consistent laps together. The more you push these tires, especially [at] a place like this, this low grip, the slower you’re going to go. It just was about trying to put consistent laps together, which I thought we did a good job.”
Harvick improved to eighth in points while Byron improved to fourth. It was the first time the Next Gen car raced at Richmond.
“I’d say here we’re usually pretty terrible, so we just got to keep working,” Byron said. “This one is one we had circled for a long time, so it’s nice to nice to have a run like we did today. It sucks though when you’re three laps away, you feel like you can kind of taste it.”
