Byron wins again in Xfinity race
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — William Byron got his second win of the season, and this time he got to take the checkered flag with his bosses there to witness.
Byron won his second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series race by leading a 1-2 finish for JR Motorsports on Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. Byron raced to the first Xfinity victory of his career last weekend at Iowa Speedway, but team owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick weren’t at the track to see him then.
This time, Hendrick was the first person to the window of his car in victory lane. The 19-year-old became the youngest series winner at Daytona.
Byron used a push from teammate Elliott Sadler to clear traffic on the restart. Byron was aided when Erik Jones was knocked out of line, giving him a clear lead.
An accident behind the lead pack caused the race to end under caution.
“I have to go around one more time, right?” Byron radioed his crew in regard to the procedures. He did a celebratory burnout and was interviewed live by NBC Sports on the front stretch for the crowd to hear, a new wrinkle from the network.
“This is so cool to win in Daytona,” Byron said. “We’ve had a great last three weeks. We’re bringing faster cars, executing better, and as a team, we’re getting more and more confident.”
Sadler was second, followed by Dakoda Armstrong, Jeb Burton and David Starr.
Rain postponed the race from Friday night until Saturday, and then a second weather delay of nearly two hours stretched the 250-mile race out.
Seven drivers were scheduled to run both the Xfinity race and the 400-mile Cup Series race, which was Saturday night. Byron was prepared to stick around to watch the main event, which was being billed as the last race at Daytona for Earnhardt, who will retire from full-time competition this season.
Earnhardt seemed to be writing a winning storyline when he took the pole position during qualifying Friday, and he was up front for much of the first two stages, but his hopes took a hit when a flat tire caused him to brush the wall and he lost two laps while in the pits for repairs.
Several other top contenders found trouble, too.
Series points leader Kyle Larson and second-place Martin Truex Jr. were involved in a 10-car accident on the 72nd lap that knocked out Truex and Joey Logano. Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Danica Patrick also were involved in the wreck that Kyle Busch started when his car went sideways and started to spin in a tight pack.
“Wrong place at the wrong time again for us,” Logano said. “It’s superspeedway racing. Sometimes you’re on the good side of it, sometimes you’re on the wrong side of it. That was the bad one.”
The race was not complete at deadline.