CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Larson and William Byron both finished inside the top five at Sunday’s throwback event at Darlington Raceway, and both drivers credited their fast Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LEs for their impressive finishing positions.
Larson recorded his second runner-up finish at the track while Byron extended his top-10 finish streak to 10 races with his fourth-place result, adding on to his NASCAR Cup Series record.
“It was a great day for our HendrickCars.com Chevy,” Larson said. “It was fun to come here to Darlington with low downforce. During the day we were sliding around. I felt like we were not very good all day, but I passed a lot of cars and found myself towards the front. I was like, ‘Well, I feel like I’m struggling but I’m fast.’”
Larson found himself tailing leader Martin Truex Jr. during the last stage but was unable to catch him before the checkered flag waved. Even though he didn’t take home his second win of the year, Larson still was proud of the No. 5 crew for their work on his throwback Chevy.
“Hats off to Martin Truex (Jr.) and his team,” Larson said. “It was a great day for our guys after a few bad weeks in a row. So, I’m happy about that and now we’ll look forward to Dover and hopefully we’ll be really good there.”
Byron stayed within the top 10 for the majority of the day after starting fifth at “The Lady in Black.” The 23-year-old driver dropped a few spots early in the race but battled back to extend his impressive top-10 streak that he’s maintained since he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 28.
“I thought we were pretty solid all day,” Byron said. “We fell back to eighth or ninth early in the race and we were just too loose. We didn’t really have the car fully connected yet, but we just got it better and better. The long runs were still kind of our weakness. We weren’t super strong on long runs; we were just kind of a fourth-place car. But to finish fourth is good for us. Tenth top-10 in a row is awesome.”
As Byron has done all season, he credited crew chief Rudy Fugle for keeping the team consistent and running well throughout the year. Byron’s third-place standing in the Cup Series rankings is his best in his Cup career but he’s ready to go from being a top-five driver to the top driver at the track.
“We just have to find that little bit to kind of get with the 5 (Kyle Larson) and the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.),” Byron explained. “We’re there at times, but we can’t really kind of break that seal, which is hard. We just have to continue to build the notebook. It’s Rudy and I’s first time going to these tracks, so I feel like there’s a lot of room to go still. But we’re doing great.”
Larson, Byron and the rest of their teammates now will head to a track that’s been kind to Hendrick Motorsports over the years. The 13th race of the season will be at Dover International Speedway and will start on Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.