New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Byron stays hot with another win
AVONDALE, Ariz. — William Byron took advantage of a late restart to earn a Cup Series victory, just like last weekend.
Kyle Larson was the victim of Byron’s late restart prowess, just like last weekend.
It was a strange bit of déjà vu at Phoenix Raceway, as Byron won his second straight Cup race by beating out his Hendrick Motorsports teammate in overtime on Sunday.
“I don’t love winning races that way, it’s very stressful,” Byron said, grinning. “A lot of tactics going on with the restarts.”
Late restarts may add to Byron’s stress, but they’re also adding to his win total.
His No. 24 Chevrolet got a great start in overtime with two laps left, and just like he did a week earlier at Las Vegas, he overtook Larson for the win. He also had to hold off Ryan Blaney, who finished second in his Penske Ford, while Tyler Reddick was third in the No. 45 Toyota for 23XI Racing.
Byron’s victory also denied Kevin Harvick his 10th win at Phoenix. Harvick’s Stewart-Haas No. 4 Ford passed Larson for the lead with 44 laps remaining, taking advantage of the long run under green-flag conditions that favored his car all afternoon.
But a yellow flag with 10 laps remaining dashed Harvick’s hopes.
Several drivers changed just two tires on the ensuing pit stop, but Harvick took four, falling back to seventh place for the restart with three laps left. He finished fifth.
Another caution immediately after the restart sent the race to overtime.
Larson — whose No. 5 Chevrolet was the fastest during Friday’s practice and also during Saturday’s qualifying — was fading after Harvick’s pass, but the late yellow flags gave him a chance until Byron snatched away the victory.
Larson finished fourth, capping a frustrating finish.
“Restarts are just tough,” Larson said. “I felt like I ran William up pretty high and was expecting him to lose some grip. But he did a really good job of holding and cleared me down the backstretch.”
All four Hendrick cars were inside the top 10. Alex Bowman was ninth while Josh Berry — filling in for the injured Chase Elliott — was 10th.
ODDS AND ENDS
Green-flag pit stops around the 120-lap mark led to pit road speeding penalties for multiple drivers, including Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, Erik Jones and Austin Cindric. Busch was also penalized on the same stop for an uncontrolled tire on pit road. He recovered to finish eighth . ... Chase Elliott is expected to be out at least another month because of a broken leg suffered while snowboarding. Berry’s 10th place finish came in his second Cup start . ... Phoenix Raceway is the once again the site of the Cup championship in November.
UP NEXT
The three-race West Coast swing is over. NASCAR moves to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.