Byron Finishes 8th At Atlanta Motor Speedway

William Byron finished in eighth place for the third week in a row with two laps led at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, putting him at a career-best eighth in the points standings. 

Byron started the race in seventh place, up two spots from his original slot of ninth after teammate Chase Elliott started in the rear for failing inspection. Byron moved up as high as fifth before settling in sixth for the competition caution on lap 25. Unfortunately, a slow pit stop under the caution relegated Byron to 10th for the restart. 

After restarting on the outside of row five, Byron settled in around ninth place before pitting under green on lap 66, staying out a bit longer than others to lead one lap. He cycled out in 10th and would finish the stage there to earn one
stage point. 

After pitting under the caution flag, Byron would restart on the inside of row four for the most eventful restart of the day on lap 113. While Kyle Busch in the 18 spun his tires  in the front row, Byron was able to follow the cars on the inside row into fourth place while Kurt Busch (Kyle’s brother) would be involved in a chain reaction crash in turn one. 

This good luck helped Byron get his best stage finish of the day and allowed him to settle in fifth place for most of the stage. The result was a fifth-place stage finish and six stage points. 

Byron pitted under the caution flag and gained one spot moving up to fourth. After all three drivers in front of him chose to restart on the inside, Byron experimented by restarting on the outside of the front row. But the experiment did not work as Byron fell back to fifth before another caution on lap 220. 

After pitting, Byron restarted on the inside of row four, and fell to 11th. However, a fast pit stop with 58 laps to go vaulted Byron back up to eighth – where he eventually finished. The eighth-place finish was a career high for Byron at Atlanta. 

Byron’s next race will be the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on FOX. This will be the first time since 1970 that the NASCAR Cup Series has competed on a dirt track. 

Byron has one dirt track race under his belt in the Camping World Truck Series, where he finished 18th in the 2016 Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, July 20, 2016. 

Joshua Lipowski is a Sports Reporter. Follow him on Instagram at @j_lipowski23.