Byron makes it 3-for-3 different Cup winners
William Byron picked up the second win of his NASCAR Cup Series career Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway and dominated along the way.
Byron led the final 58 laps and went unchallenged to the checkered flag. While his margin of victory was 2.7 seconds on Tyler Reddick, at times Byron led by over five seconds. The winning pass was made when Byron overtook Martin Truex Jr. a few laps after the final restart of the Dixie Vodka 400.
The win likely clinches Byron a playoff spot for the third consecutive season. It is the first Cup Series win for Byron with new crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle, who took over for Chad Knaus this season. It is the first win at the Cup level for Fugle.
“That guy has been huge for my career,” Byron said of Fugle. “He’s the reason I’m here, and I’m glad we could get him. He’s just awesome. This whole team did a phenomenal job. Everybody. The pit crew, over the wall, we’re extremely blessed. Thanks, God, for all the things that it takes to get to this level. Great boss in Mr. Hendrick and Jeff Gordon, and Axalta. This car looks really cool. I can’t even believe it, honestly. It was just a really smooth day. And we worked hard in the winter on this track. I can’t believe it.”
Reddick came up one spot short in a spectacular charge to the front. Reddick ran eighth with 25 laps to go but began making up time by going to the top of the track. He cut down over 10 seconds on the leaders to finish second.
Truex finished third, Kyle Larson fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.
Michael McDowell earned his third consecutive top-10 finish after winning the Daytona 500. McDowell finished sixth. It is the first time in his career that McDowell has started the year with three top-10s in a row. “To make a big jump like we did, I wouldn’t say that it’s a completely unbelievable shock, but it’s pretty close to it,” said McDowell. “We have definitely outperformed where we thought we’d be.”
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, who started at the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments after inspection, finished 11th. Hamlin was penalized for speeding when pitting under the final caution on lap 201.
Chris Buescher won the first stage. Byron won the second stage and led a race-high 102 of 267 laps.
Christopher Bell, who won the Daytona road race last week, finished 20th.