Eyes On Byron: Crashing Out

Another promising day turned sour for William Byron after finishing 34th with his second straight DNF (Did not finish). While Byron led 10 laps, he wrecked out with 49 laps to go.

Byron’s day started out overwhelmingly positive. He started in the seventh position and slowly worked his way towards the front throughout stage one and stage two, migrating between second and third on the track. 

On lap 101, Byron’s day got better as he took the lead from Tyler Reddick, who had been dominant all day. Ten laps later, however, the No. 17 car driven by Chris Buescher spun into the wall, bringing out a caution (one of 12 on the day). This brought everyone into the pits.

Byron’s day began to unravel there as his crew had issues with his left front tire. NASCAR has implemented a new single-lug wheel for this season in place of the tradition five lug nut set up. The slow stop dropped Byron all the way to 17th place. 

Despite this, Byron continued to show speed, working his way up as high as sixth with 50 laps to go. Unfortunately for Byron, trouble happened in front of him. 

Reddick cut down a right rear tire and was creeping around near the wall in turns one and two. Byron got loose on the bottom of the track while going by Reddick, but he slid up and into the Reddick’s driver’s side door. The impact hooked Byron’s No. 24 car into the outside wall. Byron’s day was done, and he would finish in 34th. 

Byron’s next race will be the Pennzoil 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday on FOX. Byron has led laps in each of his last three starts there and earned an eighth-place finish in Las Vegas March 2021. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter