Byron Finishes Poorly at Darlington Raceway
A tough day for William Byron ended with his second DNF, scoring in 34th place at the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington, leaving him nine points below the 12th place cutline.
The trouble started early for Byron on lap 16. Teammate Alex Bowman kissed the wall going through turn three, and Byron, sitting at 11th place at the time, clipped Bowman. The contact left Byron with a damaged right-rear quarter panel.
Rudy Fugle elected to bring Byron down pit row under both that caution period and the competition caution period at lap 25 to make the necessary repairs to the race car. The repairs put Byron towards the very back of the field in 34th place.
Because the Darlington track is known to be notoriously difficult to pass on due to its incredibly narrow racing line, Byron had to be patient throughout the evening. He worked his way up to 18th place by the time stage one ended.
During stage two, Byron showed some more speed while he worked his way up to as high as the 12th position. After pitting on lap 157, a timely caution paired with a great pit stop vaulted Byron into seventh — his highest place of the day.
On lap 200, four laps after he had pitted again for four tires, Byron’s left front tire flattened going into turn one. Byron pancaked the outside wall, and he was officially done for the night. He was unharmed after the incident.
“That was a big hit, but yeah I’m fine,” Byron said to NBCSN’s Marty Smith after the wreck. “On the pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt okay, and then I went to pass the double-zero or somebody down the front stretch and was just about to turn into one and the left front went down.”
Smith reported after Byron’s short interview that the team believed it may have been a valve stem that caused the tire failure. Byron was understandably disappointed following the crash, especially considering how he and his team fought back following his earlier troubles.
“Nothing we can do,” Byron said to Smith. “The guys did an awesome job to fix it [after the lap 16 Bowman incident]. We were running top 12, I think, even with all the right rear damage.”
With Byron now nine points below the cutline, he has until the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race Sept. 18th to get into the top 12 so he can advance to the next round of the playoffs. He can also advance with a win in either of the next two races.
Byron will compete next in the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. The race will be Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Byron finished 7th there in the spring.
Originally a 0.5-mile bullring, Richmond was reconfigured during the late 1980s into a 0.75-mile d-shaped oval. The start/finish line also has a unique position as it is further towards turn four as opposed to its traditional position in the middle of the front stretch.
Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @jlipowski18.