William Byron’s car came alive at the end of the second segment of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
From there, the 23-year-old ran away from the competition en route to the victory in the Dixie Vodka 400.
“Thanks, God, for all the things that it takes to get to this level,” Byron said. “Great boss in Mr. Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, and Axalta. This car looks really cool. I’m can’t even believe it, honestly. It was just a really smooth day. And we worked hard in the winter on this track. I can’t believe it.”
It marks the second career series win of the season for the Charlotte, North Carolina native, and the 264th for Hendrick Motorsports in NCS competition. Byron also led the most laps on the day, pacing the race for 102 of 267 laps.
The win locks Byron into the Playoffs later this season, joining Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell as the third different winner so far in 2021.
Byron gave a lot of credit to his crew chief, Rudy Fugle, who was making his third start in that position for the team after coming over from Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he and Byron worked together.
“Yeah, that guy has been huge for my career,” said Byron. “He’s the reason I’m here and I’m glad we could get him. He’s just awesome. This whole team did a phenomenal job. Everybody. The pit crew, over the wall, we’re extremely blessed.”
Byron powered his No. 24 Chevrolet around Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr. as the two almost made contact, and edged both out at the finish line to win the second segment of the race.
Byron and most of the leaders stayed on the track on the ensuing pit stop, and reassumed the lead on the restart. Truex, who had restarted 17th after a pit stop, drove quickly back through the field, and 13 laps later moved into third behind Byron and Kyle Larson. Seven laps later, Truex moved to second and began working to reel in the leader.
But Byron held the measure, but saw his advantage go away when a caution came out on lap 199. A slow pit stop put him in fifth on the ensuring restart.
While Truex and Larson battled for the lead, Byron quickly made up ground, and took the lead again on lap 210.
Over the closing laps, Tyler Reddick raced his way to second, and closed the gap to 2.77 seconds to the leader. But he could get no closer, as Byron was first to cross under the checkered flag.
“You had to go with the wall at certain times,” Byron said. “(Turns) 3 and 4 were really fast up there. I definitely didn’t do it as good as the Xfinity cars do it, but I used it when I had to, and this car was just awesome. It’s really a lot of hard work. I think we went to the simulator four or five times this off-season and it just pays off, man. It’s awesome.”
Reddick finished in second after a late race charge to the front.
“Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air at the end of the race, and I saw how fast we were catching everybody it became beyond frustrating because I know just two or three different decisions on a restart would have put me miles ahead,” said Reddick. “I knew that we were going to have to have a well-executed restart. We didn’t do that, and it takes time to get around all of those cars who pass you on a restart because they are all really good drivers. That’s the difference. I thought we would be better in the day and everyone would catch up at night, but it was the opposite of that.”
Truex at times appeared to have the only car that could contend with Byron, but in the end had to settle for a third place finish.
“The track changed a lot,” said Truex. “Our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry was really fast at times. At times a little bit off. On that last run, for whatever reason, I was just babying it. The 24 (Byron) got the lead from me on that restart and then the 5 (Larson) got by us and I’m just biding my time waiting for them to start coming back to me and they just never did. They obviously were really fast at the end and we weren’t quite as good that last run. These things are so hard to win. These cars are so touchy and just needed one more adjustment to have a chance.”
Larson recorded his first top five result since returning to the NASCAR Cup Series at the first of the year.
“It got pretty intense there at the end,” said Larson. “I was just trying to take care of my tires and was just struggling on the long runs. We were loose for a majority of the race and in that last run, we actually got kind of tight. But I felt like being tight was better for my long runs than loose, just because I could be a little more confident. I would have liked to finish second, but those guys were better than me in the end and I just couldn’t hold them off.
“I hate that I gave up those spots. But it was a good day for the NationsGuard Chevy team. Congrats to William Byron. It’s really cool for William to get a win this early in the year. Hats off to their team and hopefully we can get it done soon.”
Kevin Harvick finished in fifth.
Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell recorded another top 10 finish in sixth, with Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch rounding out the top 10.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott led briefly early on, but spent most of the race outside of the top 10. He came home with a 14th place finish.
NASCAR Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Dixie Vodka 400 – February 28, 2021
1. (31) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
2. (35) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 267.
3. (9) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 267.
4. (17) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.
5. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.
6. (6) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
7. (23) Ryan Newman, Ford, 267.
8. (5) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
9. (13) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
10. (24) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267.
11. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
12. (22) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (15) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
14. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (21) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (7) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
17. (32) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.
18. (30) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 267.
19. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
20. (3) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 267.
21. (8) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 267.
22. (19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
23. (10) Cole Custer, Ford, 267.
24. (27) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 267.
25. (2) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
26. (20) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 266.
27. (18) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 266.
28. (37) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 266.
29. (14) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 266.
30. (16) Aric Almirola, Ford, 264.
31. (28) Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 263.
32. (26) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 261.
33. (36) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 259.
34. (34) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, 258.
35. (38) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 258.
36. (25) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Engine, 151.
37. (29) James Davison, Chevrolet, Engine, 61.
38. (33) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, Electrical, 21.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 124.669 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 12 Mins, 45 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.777 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 0;J. Logano 1-12;B. Keselowski 13-52;C. Buescher 53-67;W. Byron 68;C. Buescher 69-72;B. Keselowski 73-78;C. Buescher 79-82;B. Keselowski 83;C. Buescher 84-88;C. Elliott 89-92;C. Buescher 93-121;D. Suarez 122;B. Wallace 123-124;M. Truex Jr. 125-155;W. Byron 156;M. Truex Jr. 157-159;W. Byron 160-201;K. Larson 202-206;M. Truex Jr. 207-209;W. Byron 210-267.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) William Byron 4 times for 102 laps; Chris Buescher 5 times for 57 laps; Brad Keselowski 3 times for 47 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 3 times for 37 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 12 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 5 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 4 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 2 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 17,2,19,24,48,5,22,9,1,3
Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,11,1,19,5,17,4,12,48,2
Top 10 in Points: 1. Denny Hamlin – 139; 2. Kevin Harvick – 119; 3. Joey Logano – 108; 4. Michael McDowell – 106 (1 Win); 5. Chase Elliott – 105; 6. Kurt Busch – 104; 7. Christopher Bell – 99 (1 Win); 8. Kyle Larson – 97; 9. Martin Truex, Jr. – 96; 10. Brad Keselowski – 95.
