AUSTIN, Texas - Oh, so close.
William Byron made the first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season for Hendrick Motorsports at Circuit of The Americas on Saturday and fell just one position shy of backing up Kyle Larson's win in the event a year ago, coming home in second place in the No. 17 entry.
COTA has become one of the strongest tracks for the organization with Byron registering a win in the Cup Series race last year. Along with Chase Elliott's win in the inaugural event, Hendrick Motorsports has claimed two of the four events in Austin, Texas, thus far.
And while Byron didn't quite get to victory lane on Saturday, he turned in the third-straight, top-two finish in the race for the company, even on a reconfigured and shortened layout.
"I really slid around a lot to go fast on the short runs ... those guys would get away and our long run (speed) was really good," Byron said. "I had fun. It was a good workout. It was good to get back in the rhythm of things and push the car. I think it will help me tomorrow (in the Cup Series race) just to kind of understand the corners."
Byron qualified in third place on Friday night and was a factor near the front throughout the first stage. Then, fortune fell his way as leader Connor Zilisch was ruled to have pulled onto pit road just after a caution waved and he was penalized, with Byron having just moved into second place a couple of laps prior, he inherited the lead and won the first stage under a yellow flag.
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The No. 17 crew got Byron out first on the ensuing pit stop but with several cars staying out, Byron spent most of the second stage fighting back through the field. Along with several other leaders, Byron pitted just a couple of laps before the stage break, making his last stop. Both Ross Chastain and Riley Herbst, both of whom hovered around the front throughout much of the first two stages, were called for speeding, Byron was able to move all the way up to second to begin the third and final stage.
From the second row, Zilisch dove low to go three-wide into turn one but overshot the apex, pushing Byron outside and allowing a couple of cars to pass them both. Byron was quickly able to move back into fourth and remained there until finally getting by Austin Hill for third with eight laps to go.
Three laps later, Carson Kvapil, who'd endured a physical battle with Zilisch for the lead, cut a tire down with Byron breezing past for second. However, by then, Zilisch had put too much distance on the field to make up.
The Cup Series main event of the weekend is set to start at 3:30 p.m. and will air on Fox. Elliott earned the best starting spot among Hendrick Motorsports drivers and will roll off third.
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Connor Zilisch, No. 88
- William Byron, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
- Sam Mayer, No. 41
- Austin Hill, No. 21
- Christian Eckes, No. 16
- Jesse Love, No. 2
- Taylor Gray, No. 54
- Ross Chastain, No. 9
- William Sawalich, No. 18
- Blaine Perkins, No. 31
- Sammy Smith, No. 8
- Riley Herbst, No. 19
- Sheldon Creed, No. 00
- Alex Labbe, No. 07
- Josh Williams, No. 11
- Ryan Ellis, No. 71
- Daniel Dye, No. 10
- Dean Thompson, No. 26
- Ryan Sieg, No. 39
- Brennan Poole, No. 44
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 42
- Josh Bilicki, No. 91
- Carson Kvapil, No. 1
- Nick Sanchez, No. 48
- Jeb Burton, No. 27
- Austin Green, No. 32
- Kyle Sieg, No. 28
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7
- Brandon Jones, No. 20
- Corey Heim, No. 24
- Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99
- Kris Wright, No. 5
- Sage Karam, No. 53
- Harrison Burton, No. 25
- Preston Pardus, No. 50
- Baltazar Leguizamon, No. 35
- Carson Hocevar, No. 14