BROOKLYN, Mich. – William Byron had just enough fuel to make it to the end of a second overtime restart.
But he didn’t quite have the push from behind to hold on to his fourth win of the season.
Byron wheeled the No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a second-place finish on Monday at Michigan International Speedway, notching the team’s best showing since a victory at Martinsville in April. Monday marked the resumption of a 400-mile event that began on Sunday but was postponed by rain after 51 laps.
Byron led the field to green for the final two-lap dash, but Brad Keselowski, who ran just behind him in the outside lane, was unable to provide a final push into Turn 1. That allowed Tyler Reddick to take the lead on the inside and eventually, the win.
“I'll relive that restart, what lane to choose overnight, for sure,” Byron said. “Second sucks but really proud of the effort, though. I feel like we’ve been trying to put weeks together like this and this is a really good step. Everyone did a great job on the team – strategy was awesome, car was awesome all day and really proud of the team.
"Just thanks to all of our partners, RAPTOR, Chevrolet ... wanted to get a win for Chevy here, in their backyard for sure, but we'll try to get one next year."
Byron, who led 20 laps and scored 15 stage points in the race, gained late track position thanks to an early pit stop call in Stage 3 by crew chief Rudy Fugle. That left Byron to save fuel when he could throughout the closing laps and then during caution circuits throughout two overtime restart attempts.
While the late cautions proved beneficial for Byron, the same couldn’t be said for his Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman both seemed set for top-10 showings. Elliott led 29 laps and was running sixth when a caution flew with six laps to go after Martin Truex Jr. hit the wall. Bowman was 10th at the time.
However, Bowman scraped the wall in his No. 48 Ally Racing Chevy during a chaotic first overtime attempt and was forced to pit when the caution flew again for a Ross Chastain spin. He finished 27th, one lap down.
Elliott, meanwhile, made contact with Ryan Blaney on the final lap of the second overtime in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy but was able to keep it straight and came home 15th. He finished second in Stage 1, earning nine bonus points.
Hendrick Motorsports’ fourth entry, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy driven by Kyle Larson, was victim of a crash at the end of Stage 2, and after leading 41 laps early, was relegated to a 34th-place finish.
The NASCAR Cup Series will be back with a Saturday night race at Daytona International Speedway this week. Coverage is set to begin on NBC at 7:30 p.m.
Byron won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.
