William Byron has been the very best NASCAR Cup Collection playoff driver within the final two races.
Not solely has he earned back-to-back top-five finishes, he’s additionally been the highest-finishing playoff driver. This has seen Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports group already locked into the Spherical of 8 on factors, and going into the elimination race on the Charlotte highway course, they’re the one ones assured a spot within the subsequent spherical.
Byron additionally leads the general level standings, though within the postseason that hardly issues when it’s about attending to Phoenix Raceway and being the final man standing. You possibly can ask him what it meant to steer the Cup Collection in a number of statistics final 12 months earlier than the finale performed out at Phoenix. Spoiler alert: It meant nothing. He didn’t win the championship. The 2017 Xfinity sequence title-winner completed third behind Staff Penske’s Ryan Blaney and his personal teammate, Kyle Larson.
However being the one driver locked into the following spherical and heading the factors desk has to really feel good for now. Truly, it in all probability feels actually good for a driver who was given the prospect to defend his race group over the weekend.
Byron was requested by RACER if he was bothered by the feedback about his race group. The query stemmed from him telling NBC Sports activities after the Kansas Speedway race that his group has “gotten a number of [crap] over the summer time.” It was a reference to what’s develop into a typical theme in latest seasons: the No. 24 group has a dip in outcomes by the midseason.
“It doesn’t hassle me that folks say or discover, however it bothers me (as a result of) we’re not that a lot completely different from every other group,” Byron stated. “For those who look statistically, we now have 10 high fives and 16 high 10s, and that’s proper in step with the opposite 5 or 6 guys that we’re racing. So, sure, we haven’t had a stellar season primarily based on what we did final 12 months, however we’re nonetheless plugging alongside and ending races within the entrance … and we simply have to proceed that.”
From Daytona to doldrums — the Hendrick group can all the time flip it round when it counts. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Photos
The statistics are spot on. Byron has the second most wins within the sequence – three – behind teammate Kyle Larson and second most top-10 finishes (16) behind Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell.
And to additional show Byron’s level, the highest 10 drivers within the Cup Collection standings certainly have related numbers.
- Byron: three wins, 10 high fives, 16 high 10s
- Bell: three wins, 11 high fives, 19 high 10s
- Larson: 5 wins, 12 high fives, 15 high 10s
- Denny Hamlin: three wins, 10 high fives, 15 high 10s
- Alex Bowman: one win, seven high fives, 15 high 10s
- Ryan Blaney: two wins, 9 high fives, 14 high 10s
- Tyler Reddick: two wins, 11 high fives, 19 high 10s
- Chase Elliott: one win, eight high fives, 15 high 10s
- Joey Logano: two wins, 5 high fives, 9 high 10s
- Daniel Suarez: one win, three fives, seven high 10s
“It bothers me that we get handled a bit in a different way as a result of everybody this 12 months has been, for essentially the most half, fairly inconsistent,” Byron continued. “However for us, we’re making an attempt to proceed to place weeks collectively and plug away and attempt to put back-to-back weeks collectively. It’s powerful whenever you go from a mile-and-a-half to a speedway; you don’t actually have management of that end result. So, we’re making an attempt to do extra of that – extra consistency.”
If the outcomes had been skewed throughout the summer time, it was, Byron admitted, the product of quick vehicles with no payoff or sluggish vehicles that completed solely the place they had been succesful. Byron ended the common season fifth within the championship standings and was reseeded fourth with 22 playoff factors.
Proving the naysayers unsuitable as soon as once more. The No. 24 approach. Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Photos
Though the feedback rubbed him the unsuitable approach, Byron didn’t take it as being written off as a contender for the championship. Nor ought to he be.
“I really feel like there’s a sure narrative on the market of, ‘Hey, they’re not good within the summertime,’ and I don’t know if that’s fully true,” Byron stated. “I believe we now have sure races which can be nice within the summertime and I believe we had sure weeks that we weren’t that nice. However you possibly can look throughout the entire storage and that’s fairly constant.”
Which is why Byron nonetheless has pretty much as good a shot as anybody to win the Cup Collection title. Over the previous couple of weeks he’s been the one who has stood out from the sector, and it should convey him added satisfaction that the group is exhibiting its capabilities on the time it issues most.
