Solid Outing for Byron at Kansas Speedway

William Byron kept the positive momentum rolling in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway Oct. 24 by finishing sixth with a 57-laps lead. 

After starting in ninth place, Byron wasted no time making his presence felt by moving his way up to fourth by lap 22. He slowly worked his way up further before battling for the lead with teammate Kyle Larson throughout stage two. Larson pulled away at the end, however, relegating Byron to a second-place finish in stage one. 

In stage two, Byron battled with another teammate, Chase Elliot. Sitting in second most of the stage, Byron was able to pass Elliot under a pit cycle late in stage two and would pull away to win. 

During the final stage, Byron continued to show speed. Despite falling back as far as fifth to start the stage, Byron took back the lead with 82 to go and ran away from the pack to a gap as large as three seconds. A Ryan Newman spin with 49 laps to go forced the final round of pit stops to be under caution. 

Crew Chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road and got Byron out first, but the team was unable to get all the lug nuts tight on the left rear tire. Byron had to come back in and would restart towards the back of the lead lap. 

He would rebound over the final laps to finish in sixth place, continuing his solid season. 

Byron’s next race will be the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. on NBC. Byron finished fourth there in the spring. 

Martinsville, built in 1947,  is the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit. It holds the distinction of being the only track to be on the schedule for every Cup Series season. The track is referred to as “the paperclip” due to its long, asphalt straightaways and tight, concrete turns. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.