HOMESTEAD, Fla.—William Byron left Homestead-Miami Speedway with the NASCAR Cup points lead, but he’s not locked into the Championship 4—yet.
Byron scored his 14th top-five finish of the season, and he’s 30 points above the cut line for the final four–a comfortable margin, provided he can avoid disaster next Sunday at Martinsville.
Finishing fourth, however, didn’t leave the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet exuding confidence with one race remaining in the Round of 8 and Kyle Larson and Sunday’s winner Christopher Bell already locked into the final round.
“I felt a little bit better, because I thought we brought a little bit more performance,” Byron said. “But we still got beat by three of the guys we’re racing, so that’s not good.”
Fellow Playoff contenders Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick finished second and third. While the 25-year-old racer quickly moved into the top five after starting seventh, he lacked the necessary handling to remain up front. Byron claimed the lead on Lap 20 and remained at the point before pitting 13 laps later.
“Honestly, I thought the 5 (Larson) and the 12 (Blaney) had the best cars,” Byron said. “And the 20 (Bell), he came on really strong on the short runs. I don’t know if he was loose all day and was able to get up front in clean air and hustle, but once he got up front, his car was a rocket.”
Byron picked up points after finishing fourth in the first stage. He passed Larson to finish second behind Blaney in Stage 2. Forty laps later, Larson ran into Blaney entering pit road and then plowed into the water and sand barrels at the entrance. An accident involving JJ Yeley and John Hunter Nemechek, knocked Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain out of contention.
During the final segment, Byron worked his way to the lead on Lap 240. He battled Blaney for the point, regained the lead on Lap 244 but was passed by Bell eight laps later as his car became tighter through the corners.
“We just didn’t have the turn in our car to go into a run, so we just struggled there to fire-off,” Byron said. “I was doing all I could to air-block; move my line around and try to take his air, but it just wasn’t enough. I couldn’t get through the middle well enough to maintain pace.
“But our No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet was really solid all day. We just needed more there at the end, but we had good execution, good pit stops and put ourselves in position to win.”
With the strength of the No. 24 team throughout the season, Byron knows if he gets to Phoenix Raceway for the Championship 4 Round, he’ll have a shot. The team won the spring race. But first he has to survive Martinsville Speedway next Sunday. In 11 starts, Byron has one win, four top fives and six top 10s.
“Our lead doesn’t mean much right now,” Byron said. “We’ve got to go there and be a lot better than last year. If we do, we’ll be in the Championship race. But we can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s one stage at a time.
“We have to bring a better car. We were about a seventh-place car last week, a third to a fourth-place car today. Hopefully, we’ll have a winning car next week.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
