Eyes on Byron: 34th place finish at Coke Zero Sugar 400

William Byron limped into the playoffs Sunday, Aug. 28 with a 34th place finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. 

After persistent rain on Saturday night, NASCAR elected to postpone and reschedule the race for an unusual 10 a.m. ET start. Byron would start the race in 17th position after time trials on Saturday were rained out as well. 

Byron spent the majority of stage one in the middle of the pack. Following a multi-car accident on lap 31, he dropped to the back to stay out of trouble and finished the stage in 20th.

After pitting under the stage caution, Byron would snake his way through the field from the 13th spot to lead his only lap of the day on lap 59. The field would scatter some as Byron would pit with a host of other drivers on lap 80. While he was able to stay in the lead pack of cars, he narrowly missed out on stage points, finishing 11th. 

Rain showers began to pop up around the track as stage three began, meaning that more intense racing on the track was bound to come. As the race intensified, Byron was caught up in an eight-car accident, ultimately putting an end to his day. He finished the day with his sixth DNF (did not finish) of the season, being scored 34th. 

Despite this, Byron’s two early season wins (Atlanta and Martinsville) qualify him for the playoffs as the fifth seed out of 16 drivers. The playoffs consist of the final 10 races of the season split into four different rounds.

Every three races, the bottom four drivers get eliminated before the last four  standing race for the championship at Phoenix in November. The highest finisher of the four wins the championship.

Byron enters the first round of the playoffs with a seven-point advantage over the 13th place cutoff line. He has failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs in his career. 

Byron’s next race will be the Cookout Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway Sunday, Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. ET on USA. He has two career top-five finishes at Darlington. 

He came near a victory at his last Darlington appearance in the spring but was bumped out by Joey Logano with two laps to go, ultimately finishing 13th. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter.