William Byron put together a championship-caliber season. In fact, he ends the year with the best average finish of all the Championship 4 drivers. But in NASCAR’s winner-take-all Playoff format, a good season just gives you the chance.
Byron’s No. 24 seized on that chance, racing like veterans. The team qualified second-best of the championship contenders in eighth and stayed in contention with a fourth-place result in both stages. It was in the final stage when the team showed its hand, though, with crewchief Rudy Fugle opting to stay out a few extra laps when the rest of the field pitted.
That call meant that, when the caution flag waved for a hard crash involving Zane Smith right after Byron did pit, the No. 24 team was able to stay out when the other contenders had to come back down pit road. That gave Byron track position and clean air for what would end up being the final restart and his best chance of the race.
Ultimately, though, it was not to be. Joey Logano had a great restart and drove right to the lead, leaving Byron to fight with Logano’s teammate Ryan Blaney for second. Blaney’s Team Penske Ford was also faster, though, and Byron had to settle for third in the race and third in the season standings, wishing he just had a little more at the end.
“We just needed a little bit more,” Byron admitted. “I felt like we gave it all we had, and that’s something to be proud of. We just didn’t have enough to go fight with the Penske guys.
“I could at times kind of inch up on them, but I felt like on the short and long run they were better, and mid portion of the run I’d be a little bit better,” he explained. “But Rudy made a great call. I was really proud of that. That was cool to give us a shot and give us a shot at the front row and ultimately netted out better. But yeah, just not quite enough.”
At 26, Byron might still be the youngest of the Championship 4, but you wouldn’t have known it. On the racetrack, he drove a mature race, fighting hard with Blaney especially for that second spot but not making any overaggressive moves. Off the racetrack, he was gracious in defeat and quick to thank his crew.
“We just didn’t have enough, but I’m really, really proud of our team,” Byron said. “We fought hard. It was a great strategy there in the final stage to do something different, but we just didn’t have enough.”
It’s his second Championship 4 appearance in two years. Both times, he’s finished third. Byron said that every bit of experience helps in this Playoff format. With the championship race at Phoenix again next season, he explained that his focus will be on getting better at this style of racetrack.
“Makes you hungrier, but also just more experience in what it takes. I feel like this style of track has been tough on us, and we made a lot of strides this year, but still more to go,” he acknowledged. “If we can just kind of inch up on this style of track, I know we’re so good at all the other ones, and we can put it all together.”
Still, it might not have been the result he wanted, but it was a very strong season for William Byron. He won his first Daytona 500 to start the season on the highest high and won twice more at Circuit of The Americas and at Martinsville Speedway. Byron ends the season with 13 top-fives and 21 top-10s.
Byron may have handled himself like a veteran on and off the racetrack, but the benefit of being the youngest contender is that he has a plenty more chances.
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