Byron bottoms out at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishes 13th

William Byron had an up-and-down day in the desert, finishing in 13th place in the Round of Eight opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Oct. 16. 

Emily Wood | Liberty Champion DREAMS BECOME REALITY — Byron grew up watching races at Martinsville and now got to compete on the same track

Byron started the race in third, and he remained there for part of the first stage. However, his car faded as he dropped outside of the top five before the first pit stop. After the stop, Byron fell as low as 11th before finishing 10th in stage one after Kyle Busch spun out in front of Byron. 

In stage two, Byron started in sixth before falling back to 10th. He would recover to finish a solid sixth in stage two, upping to his stage point total on the day to six. 

In stage three, a solid pit stop moved Byron up to third for a restart with 68 laps to go. One lap after the restart while battling for second place, Byron’s car bottomed out in turn one, causing him to go into a four-wheel slide. Byron saved the car, but the mishap would cause him to fall back outside of the top five.

Production Day for Liberty University NASCAR driver William Byron on October 30th, 2019 (Photograph by Joel Coleman)

Byron would spend the next few laps in the middle of the top 10 before falling back to 11th when a caution came out with 20 laps to go. Byron elected to pit under the caution in hopes of using fresh tires to better his finishing position. The decision did not meet with success, as Byron could only work his way up to 13th by the end of the race. 

The disappointing finish puts Byron in fifth place in the point standings, six points behind the fourth place cut-line (Denny Hamlin). A win in one of the next two races or jumping Hamlin in the points standings (provided there are no new winners) would put Byron in his first Championship 4. 

Byron, however, gets a good break with his next race. Byron won his second career Cup Series race in the spring of 2021 at Homestead-Miami. This year, Byron again moves on to the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Dixie Vodka 400 on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on NBC. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow him on Twitter

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