William Byron made it two in a row Sunday when he took the lead in overtime and went on to win in overtime at Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Phoenix.

The 25-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver led twice for 64 laps.

It was his 6th career Cup win. He won twice in 2022.

The victory came by .33 seconds over Ryan Blaney of Team Penske.

Third was Tyler Reddick.

Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, who led a race-best 202 laps, was fourth while Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing, a nine-time winner at the Phoenix mile, was fifth.

Larson looked to be in control for most of the race, leading 202 laps, by far the best in the field. He won Stage 2.

Larson, who won the 2021 championship on the strength of 10 race victories, had the lead when the final scheduled pit stops cycled through but a quick stop by Harvick put him right on the tail of the leader.

With 44 laps to go, Harvick passed Larson and took his first lead of the day. From there, he took a leisurely drive as he moved out to a big lead – until the yellow flag waved with 11 laps to go.

The front of the field pitted for tires. Harvick fell from the lead to seventh place as he took four tires while those who emerged in front of him took just two.

“That one is not fun to swallow,” Harvick said. “We had a great car and didn’t need that caution at the end. We had a strong car and a chance to win. Just hate missin an opportunity when you have a car that strong.”

Out front was Larson. But with a couple laps to go, a multi-car wreck brought out another yellow flag. On the overtime restart, Byron moved to the lead and got the win.

“Restarts are tough,” Larson said.

Unless you were William Byron Sunday.

Said Blaney, “The last restart I thought… I got to the bottom of those guys into Turn 2… that I was in a good spot for Turn 3. I think the No. 45 kind of helped the No. 24 – got him a push down the back and got him a good spot. He had an advantage going in there. Close… but I wasn’t really close enough to the No. 24 going into Turn 3 to do anything. Overall: Pretty good day. We got a lot better all day. We finished a little better than I thought we’d run. So, that was positive.”

###

NASCAR Cup Series Race – United Rentals Work United 500

Phoenix Raceway

Avondale, Arizona

Sunday, March 12, 2023

1. (3)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 317.
2. (8)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 317.
3. (12)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 317.
4. (1)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 317.
5. (15)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 317.
6. (5)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 317.
7. (24)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 317.
8. (9)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 317.
9. (18)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 317.
10. (17)  Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 317.
11. (16)  Joey Logano, Ford, 317.
12. (25)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 317.
13. (7)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 317.
14. (19)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 317.
15. (21)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 317.
16. (30)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 317.
17. (13)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 317.
18. (4)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 317.
19. (23)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 317.
20. (22)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 317.
21. (10)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 317.
22. (11)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 317.
23. (2)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 317.
24. (6)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 317.
25. (20)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 316.
26. (28)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 316.
27. (26)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 316.
28. (14)  Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 316.
29. (32)  Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 316.
30. (35)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 315.
31. (34)  Zane Smith(i), Ford, 315.
32. (29)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 314.
33. (31)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 313.
34. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, 311.
35. (27)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 310.
36. (33)  BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 50.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  105.491 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 0 Mins, 18 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.330 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  5 for 35 laps.

Lead Changes:  10 among 6 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   K. Larson 1;W. Byron 2-63;K. Larson 64-118;R. Chastain 119;B. Keselowski 120;K. Larson 121-246;E. Jones 247-260;K. Larson 261-268;K. Harvick 269-304;K. Larson 305-315;W. Byron 316-317.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kyle Larson 5 times for 201 laps; William Byron 2 times for 64 laps; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 36 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 14 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 1 lap; Ross Chastain 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,5,20,11,45,12,1,4,6,8

Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,24,4,6,45,11,20,12,1,14

 

 

No Comment