Byron Finishes Ninth At Kansas Sunday

William Byron kept his top-10 streak alive in the Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway Sunday afternoon, finishing at a solid ninth and putting him at a career-best third in points. 

Byron lost the handle on his 24 car towards the end of stage one. FOX Sports’ Jamie Little reported that Byron was complaining of a loose race car, and he dropped from as high as second in stage one all the way back to a low of 17th in stage three. No matter what adjustments were made to Byron’s race car under pit stops, he could not find the speed he naturally had all year long. 

Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, tried to combat the bad track position by electing to short-pit Byron with 62 laps to go in the race. Byron used the fresh tires to gain multiple spots on the field, cycling out in 11th by the time pit stops had cycled through. 

The final 47 laps of the race were extremely chaotic as four caution flags jumbled up the field for multiple restarts. Byron, however, kept his nose clean and ended up with his 9th place finish. This went along with a 5th place finish in stage one to give Byron a day with 34 points. 

Byron looks to keep his top-10 streak going next week at the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, Sunday at 3:30 on FS1. In honor of NASCAR’s throwback weekend at the track, Byron will drive a special paint scheme honoring former NASCAR fan-favorite Neil Bonnett. Byron’s career average finish at Darlington is a rough 21.6, but his last race there in the fall ended in a 5th place finish. 

Darlington is a historic track on the NASCAR circuit. It holds the distinction of being the first superspeedway (tracks more than 1 mile in length) in NASCAR history after being built in 1950. The track has a peculiar egg shape due to a fishing pond outside of turn four. 

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