CONCORD, N.C. -- William Byron and Alex Bowman were on the brink of being eliminated from the postseason entering Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but strategic driving, quick work on pit road and crucial car adjustments all factored into the teammates moving on to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Byron finished in third place and Bowman was fifth at “The Last Great Colosseum,” propelling them into the second round after they both were below the playoff bubble. Byron was 15th heading into Saturday’s race while Bowman was tied for 12th in points but ranked 13th. It was a high-pressure situation but both drivers buckled down and executed clean races to move remain in the hunt for a championship.
“The first stage was us just trying to get as many points as possible,” Byron said of his strategy. “I felt like we were good, but we never got our way up toward the top five and that was hurting us the most. I mean, we were struggling with some things on the car but nothing major.”
Byron ran inside the top five for more than half of the race, finishing stage one in 10th and stage two in fourth to overcome the second-largest points deficit in the elimination era. He was 18 markers below the playoff bubble entering Bristol but now is ranked eighth in the standings.
Bowman had a taller task after placing 14th in stage one and 15th in the second stage, but he credited crew chief Greg Ives’ determination for making the difference in stage three. Bowman now sits in seventh place in the playoff rankings.
“(I’m) just pumped to be able to make it through,” Bowman said. “We had a great ending to a rough night at Bristol. Greg through everything at it, including his laptop, to get our car going faster. I’m glad it worked out and I’m pumped to get Ally through to the next round of the playoffs.”
While the two drivers made it look easy to punch their tickets onward, they knew anything could happen at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.” The Cup Series ran on dirt at Bristol earlier in the season, meaning it had been a full year since the field had driven in a traditional Bristol race. Neither driver had any moments to relax after a chaotic ending to the race that allowed them both to finish in the top five.
“There at the end, I mean, golly, it just was an insane amount of things going on,” Byron said. “I felt like the last 50 laps were twice as hard as qualifying laps. It was pretty insane just trying to run the top, work the lap cars and not put myself in a bad spot, but also get enough lap time. It was crazy.”