Byron Gets Out of Slump with a Top-5 Finish at Talladega
Talladega was the chaotic demolition derby that it normally was, but William Byron was one of the lucky few who came away mostly unscathed. Byron earned his fourth top five of the season with a fourth-place finish leading one lap.
Byron started the race in the 21st position. He mainly spent stage one hanging around the back half of the top 20 waiting to make his move to the front. Byron past a five-car accident on lap 59 to finish stage one in the 13th position.
In stage two, Byron moved his way closer to the front. Mainly spending time drafting behind teammate Chase Elliot, Byron was able to move as far up as the second position. In the chaos that was the end of the stage, Byron lost his drafting partner and fell back to a sixth-place stage result.
Byron was again towards the front throughout stage three. Byron and Elliot worked together to try to move the inside line to the front, and Byron ended up leading one lap at lap 153.
However, the action for Byron really started to heat up on an overtime restart on lap 188. Byron restarted eighth but fought his way to the outside of Elliot for the race lead coming to the white flag. However, less than a half-straightaway from the white flag, a six-car pileup brought out the caution.
Due to Byron being low on fuel, crew chief Chad Knaus elected to bring Byron to pit road for four tires and fuel. Byron restarted 15th before narrowly avoiding a 10-car pileup in turn four. Byron moved up to seventh where he would restart for the third and final overtime.
On the final lap, Byron began in the third position. He dove underneath leader Matt DiBenedetto in turn four and was squeezed underneath the yellow line. As he moved up the track to gather himself, Denny Hamlin moved to the inside of DiBenedetto and Byron.
Byron nosed ahead of both of those cars in the middle of the tri-oval, but unfortunately for him, the start/finish line at Talladega is located past the exit of pit road. With no drafting help from behind, Byron sunk back and finished in fifth place. However, DiBenedetto (who finished second) was penalized for pushing Byron below the yellow line moving Byron up to fourth as DiBenedetto was relegated to 21st.
This top five comes during a hectic week for the number 24 team. Longtime Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Chad Knaus announced that he would be stepping down from the pit box at the end of the season and move to an executive role with the organization. Byron and Knaus have enjoyed some success together earning two playoff appearances and Byron’s first career win earlier this season at Daytona.
Chad Knaus will be best known, however, for 17 seasons as the crew chief of Jimmie Johnson. The combination of Knaus and Johnson earned a total of 82 race wins (second all time for driver-crew chief combination) and seven championships (tied for most all time).
Byron will compete next in the Bank of American ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EST on NBC. Byron won the pole there last season en route to a sixth-place finish after leading 23 laps. Byron also finished eighth in the lone road course race this season in the Go Bowling 235 at Daytona on August 16.
Joshua Lipowski is a Sports Reporter and the host of the “Further than the Cheap Seats” podcast. Follow him on Instagram at @j_lipowski23.