In 2022, William Byron recorded his first multi-win season within the NASCAR Cup Sequence after eight races. In 2023, he solely wanted 4 races to realize that.
After successful at Las Vegas final week in an extra time end, déjà vu in all probability washed over Byron in Sunday’s United Leases Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway as he scored one more victory in extra time.
Byron dominated the primary stage by main each lap however the first, which was by his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Kyle Larson, to win the section. He fell again in Stage #2 attributable to a poor pit cease and needed to work again by the order.
On the entrance, Larson dominated the second stage to win earlier than Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 269. Sadly for Harvick, he couldn’t put a lot distance on the sphere as Harrison Burton spun on lap 303 attributable to a shredded right-front tyre, and Harvick would lose seven spots on pit highway. This shuffled Larson again into first for the following restart, just for A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, and Noah Gragson to wreck collectively after only one lap and set off extra time.
Larson and Byron comprised the entrance row for extra time and raced facet by facet till Ryan Blaney tried to become involved. Using alongside the surface, Byron cleared the 2 then drove off to the win whereas Blaney was left making an attempt to fend off Tyler Reddick for second.
“Final 12 months, regardless that we received early, we didn’t actually know the automotive or perceive the automotive,” commented Byron. “We have been sort of simply adapting to what we had. We have been simply profiting from an unpredictable scenario with the complete subject. There was lots of attrition within the races, lots of simply bizarre issues that have been taking place.
“I really feel like now, it’s energy on energy. It feels totally different. It looks like we’re extra persistently in the direction of the entrance and we’re main laps.
“We simply wish to give attention to our processes throughout the week. I feel our processes this week have been sort of irritating as a result of we didn’t actually get to do the issues we wished to do. Everybody was a little bit drained. There was so much occurring on the surface. It was a little bit irritating going into at present, however it’s cool to see that we are able to overcome these issues and nonetheless get a win.”
Harvick completed fifth to proceed a powerful streak of scoring a high ten at Phoenix in each race because the fall 2013 occasion, a run of twenty.
“That one is just not enjoyable to swallow,” mentioned Harvick. “We had an incredible automotive and didn’t want that warning on the finish. We had a powerful automotive and an opportunity to win. Simply hate lacking a possibility when you will have a automotive that robust.”
All 4 Hendrick vehicles completed within the high ten, with Josh Berry scoring his finest Cup end in reduction of Chase Elliott in tenth.
