Half of William Byron’s rookie-record six victories this season have come at 1.5-mile tracks, including a June triumph at Texas Motor Speedway where he passed two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton for the win with six laps remaining.
Making the 18-year-old Charlotte native’s Texas triumph more impressive was that Crafton boasted 18 top-10 finishes in his last 20 starts at the 1.5-mile track leading into the race, including seven wins and four runner-ups.
Byron’s performance prompted Crafton to say, “That’s impressive what that kid did, if I could have done it any differently, I would have.”
On Friday, Byron returns to Texas Motor Speedway for the Striping Technology 350 (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1). This time, the stakes are much higher. A repeat win would earn Byron a berth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18. At the moment, he holds the final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chase transfer spot over Crafton by nine points. Still, a Crafton win – which has occured twice at Texas – coupled with Byron failing to move up the Chase Grid in points, would bump the No. 9 Toyota Tundra driver from a transfer spot.
“I think so,” said Byron when asked if Texas was his best chance at winning in the Chase’s Round of 6. “I have the track time and the experience of knowing what it takes to win there. The only difference will be the track conditions since it was much hotter when we raced there in June. It was really hard to judge what the truck would be like when the lights came on and everything cooled off. It will be interesting to go back there this weekend and see what the track is like. I think we’re going to have a lot of speed and hopefully get that ticket to the next round of the Chase.”
Friday’s Striping Technology 350 marks the first time Byron hasn’t led the points standings entering a race in 10 contests. On the season, Byron paces the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in wins (6), top fives (10), average running position (8.1), laps led (572) and driver rating (105.0).
“I think it’s different (not leading in points right now), but last weekend we had a lot of adversity in practice, in qualifying we had oil on the track before we went out and in the race we had a couple mistakes,” Byron said. “It’s good we were able to rebound from that and be ahead of the cutoff line for the final round. We also know we can’t lean on that gap, so we have to try to get a win like we have all year. I know we can turn the adversity into a positive and hopefully move on to the final round.”
Source: Staff Report / NASCAR Wire Service
