Byron Finishes Fifth Overall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

After crashing out the first two weeks, Byron finally broke through with a fifth-place finish, leading eight laps in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 6.

Byron started the day in 12th position, but he slowly moved his way up settling in fifth position throughout most of stage one. After a caution flag with 15 laps to go in stage one for a Tyler Reddick spin, Byron’s pit crew put together a quick pit stop and set Byron up as the second car in line on fresh tires, sixth place overall. 

Byron would use this to move his way into the lead for a brief eight laps before being passed by teammate Alex Bowman for the stage win. Byron settled for second. 

In stage two, Byron quietly hung around the sixth or seventh position before a great restart with 24 laps to go in the stage vaulted him into fourth. He would finish there in stage two. 

During the final stage, a slow pit stop pushed Byron to the back half of the top 10, but he fought his way back up to fifth place by the time there were three laps to go. Erik Jones blew a tire at that point, forcing the cars to pit. 

Byron, alongside teammates Kyle Larson and Bowman, elected to take two tires on the final stop, putting Byron on the inside of row two for the final restart. Byron could not work his way around the car to his outside, Kyle Busch, and he ended up in fifth place to finish the race. 

With finishes of 38th and 34th to begin the season, this top five finish was a welcome sight for Byron. It also was his best career finish at Las Vegas. 

Byron now turns his focus to Phoenix International Raceway for the Ruoff Mortgage 500 Sunday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. on FOX. Byron has three career top-10 finishes at Phoenix with a best finish of eighth coming in spring 2021. 

Phoenix is a one-mile track with a turn that allows drivers to go four-wide on the back stretch. It also is an important race for championship contending teams as Phoenix is the host of the championship race Nov. 6. 

After Phoenix, Byron will head back to the East Coast to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway before heading to Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Then, Byron has races at Martinsville Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt), all within a four-hour drive from Lynchburg. 

Lipowski is a sports reporter. Follow him on Twitter