William Byron has issued a verdict about his failure to win at Darlington last weekend despite smashing a track record.
After two stages, Byron’s afternoon was going great. He won both after leading every lap from the green flag despite some tire strategy gimmicks and cautious restarts.
The #24 car led the first 243 laps of the 293-lap race, which was longer than any driver has led from the start of a NASCAR Cup Series since Jeff Burton at New Hampshire in September 2000. It was also twice as long as any other driver had led for the start at Darlington (previously 107).
When Byron pitted for tires and was unable to return to the lead, he came very close to repeating Burton’s accomplishment of leading all 300 laps in the race over 25 years ago.
“First off, I’m really proud of my team, bringing that level of effort and preparation, and having a car like that,” Byron said in a post-race statement. It looked like it would be a perfect race if we performed that well. Every lap, we were going to be in the lead. was rather pleased with that.
“We lost control there because those men might be aggressive when the green flag cycle was in effect. It was too late to sort of climb back up there after we lost control. Yes, that is awful. It will hurt a lot tonight, I’m sure. There are still many advantages. It certainly hurts in the moment.
The fact that Byron won the Daytona 500 early in the season to secure his postseason position with months to spare likely make his loss in the race less painful.
Additionally, Byron leads the regular season points title by a considerable margin; his 49-point lead over second-place Denny Hamlin is larger than Hamlin’s 39-point lead over tenth-place Alex Bowman.
