NASCAR Takeaways: William Byron takes fourth Cup win in Atlanta

Hampton, Ga. – William Byron made several mistakes early on that cost him a lap, but his Hendrick Motorsports team got the strategy right and led 13 green flags before rain started at Atlanta Motor Speedway and sealed his victory Stay ahead in laps. Reduced incidence due to rain.

Byrne shoved a member of the pit crew into the pit wall while trying to lift a tire, an offense that quickly sent him to the back of the field. While trying to make his way through the field, he eventually made contact with Corey Lajoie and he spun, blew out a tire and went into a spin.

He eventually recovered his lap and then dropped out after the end of stage 2, finishing fourth in a group of drivers, knowing that they would be behind the rest of the field if it did not rain or another caution came. Will putt under the green before.

Byrne took the lead a few laps later and held off Daniel Suárez and other challengers until a crash behind him brought out a caution followed by heavy rain, causing NASCAR to run 185 of the scheduled 260 laps. After that the race had to be stopped.

“A crazy night,” Byron summed up his day.

It was a great year for Byrne as he picked up his fourth win of the season.

Byrne said, “Whatever we’ve done so far is great, but if we don’t do something now, it ain’t gonna be fun.” “So hopefully we can keep going.”

Byron’s victory resulted in him crossing the finish line ahead of Suárez, AJ Allmender, Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch.

Byron triumphs over adversity

Byrne blamed himself for the lap 80 incident with Lajoie, which he said occurred when his attention was focused on Chase Elliott and he interacted with Lajoie, causing him to lose much of his lower body. ripped out.

Byrne said, “It was absolutely strange circumstances.” “I think maybe Corey was trying to come after me and I was trying to handle everything early in the race and just got a bad call and I think Corey didn’t know he was coming And we just came together.”

Although he knew he had plenty of time to take care of himself, Byron couldn’t be more confident. But with three wins already this year, there wasn’t much pressure on him.

“When you and your team click and things are going well, you don’t get caught up in a bad thing during a race,” said four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, HMS executive vice president.

“You say, ‘Okay, never mind, we’ve been through this before, we can fight our way back,’ or ‘Let’s make the most of the day.'”

The weather makes for a wild race

It is not uncommon for drivers to make moves in dangerous weather near the halfway point of a race, as if they were making a race-winning move.

This is because, when it cannot restart the race, NASCAR arranges for a race official to do so when it has completed half of its scheduled laps or reached the end of Stage 2, whichever. be the first

Once the drivers had reached lap 120 of the planned 260 laps, it seemed there was no catching up front. Brad Keselowski made several moves to maintain the lead for 19 of the final 24 laps of the second stage.

“It’s only part of the deal,” Keselowski said. “You win races you shouldn’t and you lose races you probably should, and when they run you get hit.”

shake big dots

With seven races remaining until the end of the playoffs, the bubble drivers can’t afford to have a bad day.

Ty Gibbs finished six points ahead of Daniel Suárez for the final current playoff spot, but Gibbs was involved in a crash and finished 34th. Suárez, who like Byrne had a late exit for track position, finished second.

Suárez and McDowell went from below the cutline to above the cutline, both three points ahead of Bubba Wallace, 13 ahead of Allmendinger and 26 ahead of Gibbs.

Suárez said, “You never want your competitors to have a problem and you are happy with it.” “But it is what it is. We have also faced problems in recent weeks. … We have to keep working and keep building.”

Byrne now leads Martin Truex Jr. by 21 points. in the race for the regular season title.

Byrne said, “We can’t have a really bad week.” “It looked like it was going to be a bad week, and we overcame it. It’s a good lesson to learn.”

Bob Pokras covers NASCAR for Fox Sports. He has covered motorsports for decades, including the last 30 Daytona 500s, with tenures at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpoke breedSign up for more Fox Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pokras,

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