DARLINGTON, S.C. - The takeaway from Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway?
And for the longest time - a personal-best number of laps, in fact - William Byron had it to go along with smooth sailing in the lead. But unfortunately, he didn't have it last.
Byron led the first 243 laps of the event, the most he'd ever let in any race in his career, and along the way won each of the first two stages. However, he lost the lead in a final round of green-flag pit stops and came up just short on an overtime restart.
Still, he scored a race-best 56 points and maintained a stranglehold on the Cup Series points standings.
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"First off, just really proud of my team, to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and for us to execute like that; it was looking like it was going to be a perfect race, and we were going to lead every lap," Byron said. "Was really proud of that."
Byron started on the pole thanks to a blistering qualifying lap on Saturday, one that set a new mark for speed in the Next Gen era. And did he ever take advantage of it, pacing the field with an iron fist on the way to sweeping each of the first two stages, collecting 20 bonus points and two playoff points along the way.
He remained at the point deep into stage three until green-flag pit stops began. With a sizable advantage, Byron stayed out longer than many others. Tyler Reddick short pitted and inherited the lead once stops were completed, stretching his advantage to nearly seven seconds over second-place Christopher Bell and Byron in third. Then, eventual-winner Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney emerged from behind with even fresher tires. Blaney passed Reddick with four laps to go and seemed poised to claim the win.
But a spin and a crash brought out a last caution and sent the field back down pit road for tires. Byron came out third, lined up behind Hamlin on the top but by the time he cleared Reddick for second, Hamlin had stretched his lead too far.
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"Those guys just could be aggressive on the other side of the green-flag cycle and we lost control there," Byron summarized. "And once we lost control it was too late in the going to kind of get back up there. It sucks. I'm sure it'll sting a lot tonight. But there's still a lot of positives it's just, it stings in the moment for sure."
The late going wasn't the first time strategy flipped the field on Sunday. A caution in the middle of green flag stops in stage two drastically altered the fortunes of several drivers, including Chase Elliott. Throughout much of the early going, Elliott was mired in traffic in the middle of the pack but in staying out longer, was on the right side of the yellow flag and suddenly found himself in the top 10. And he was able to finish it off, bringing the No. 9 UniFirst Chevy home in eighth.
NASCAR returns next week with a tripleheader at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson is slated to run all three races, participating in the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events.
Who won today's NASCAR race?
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11
- William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet
- Christopher Bell, No. 20
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12
- Chris Buescher, No. 17
- Ross Chastain, No. 1
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54
- Kyle Busch, No. 8
- Austin Cindric, No. 2
- Zane Smith, No. 38
- Joey Logano, No. 22
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99
- Ty Dillon, No. 10
- Erik Jones, No. 43
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
- Noah Gragson, No. 4
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23
- Cole Custer, No. 41
- Austin Dillon, No. 3
- Justin Haley, No. 7
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
- Ryan Preece, No. 60
- Cody Ware, No. 51
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19
- Michael McDowell, No. 71
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
- Austin Hill, No. 33
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6
- Riley Herbst, No. 35
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
- Josh Berry, No. 21
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
- JJ Yeley, No. 44