Byron’s Best Season Ends at Phoenix Raceway

William Byron held his head high despite a 17th place finish in the Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway Nov. 7 as he finished a career-best season. 

Byron began the day on a solid note, starting in third after a good qualifying run. He spent most of stage one running inside the top 10, finishing in sixth. Stage two was more of the same, but on off-cycle pit strategy dropped him to 10th, giving Byron a total of six stage points on the day. 

Unfortunately, his race unraveled with 64 laps to go as a caution came out after the No. 38 car of Anthony Alfredo hit the wall. Byron was on pit road at the time and fell outside of the top 20. With Phoenix being a difficult track to pass on, Byron could only manage to work his way up to 17th place. 

Despite the tough day at Phoenix, 2021 was easily Byron’s best year yet in the NASCAR Cup Series. He finished with a career-high 20 top 10 finishes (including 11 in a row early in the season). Byron also notched another career high with 12 top-five finishes, which was highlighted by his second career win at Homestead-Miami Speedway back in March. 

With that, Byron also ended the season as a career-best 10th in the standings. 

Byron’s next points race will be the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway Feb. 20, 2022. Before that, however, Byron will compete in the non-points paying preseason Busch Clash at the LA Coliseum Feb. 6, 2022. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.