MARTINSVILLE, Va.: William Byron may still be learning a lot of things as a young Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver, but the Charlotte, N.C. native found himself within .0373 seconds of earning his first career Cup Series victory in Sunday’s First Data 500.
Cup Series Playoff driver Martin Truex Jr. dominated the final short track race of the season but at times during Stage 3 – Truex looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 lurking not far behind.
The final restart with 24 laps left in the race left an opportunity for Byron to steal the lead – but as the final laps clicked away, Truex pulled away and left Byron with a career-best second-place finish, his best finish in 69 career Cup races at Hendrick Motorsports.
“He (Martin Truex Jr.) was really strong,” offered Byron. “I could work my brake bias a little bit in the car and gain a little bit, and then I’d get to him and I’d heat him up a lot and then kind of fall back. I don’t really know. He was super strong.
“Our car bounced a little bit on the short run, which was tough to kind of get around. But overall it was a really good day.”
If Byron could have gotten to the back bumper of Truex’s Toyota, Byron said he wouldn’t have raced the 2017 Cup Series champion dirty – but he would of raced him aggressively.
“Yeah, I mean, whatever it takes,” offered Byron. “I wouldn’t race him dirty, but I’m really hungry for my first win, so it’s going to whatever it takes. But he ran such a good race. I think he would have been able to drag the brake and do all he could to keep me behind him anyway.
“Close.”
For Byron, it was his second consecutive top-five finish in Cup competition after finishing fifth last weekend at Kansas Speedway.
While out of the NASCAR Playoffs, crew chief Chad Knaus’s leadership is keeping the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 a factor on the race track with a determined driver with a mission to execute and get a jumpstart on 2020.
In his previous three Martinsville races, the 21-year-old hadn’t finished better than 20th but with momentum and confidence on his side, Byron heads to Texas Motor Speedway where he earned a sixth-place finish in March after starting on the outside pole.
“This isn’t a place that I’ve loved coming to, and it just clicked this weekend, the things we did with the car going into qualifying and then obviously our race,” added Byron. “Super excited, but second is not super fun, either.
“We’ll try to get one spot better next time.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
