NASCAR Takeaways: Daytona 500 Winner William Byron Snaps Drought At Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa — William Byron snapped a 21-race winless streak on Sunday afternoon.

Whereas a 21-race drought isn’t one thing to sweat over an excessive amount of, when that final victory was the Daytona 500, there may very well be a sense of what may very well be unsuitable.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver stretched his gas for the win, as soon as when he actually wanted assist after pitting with 144 laps remaining at Iowa Speedway. Understanding he might solely run 110 to 115 green-flag laps, Byron took benefit of fifty laps below warning in these last 144 laps on the 0.875-mile oval.

William Byron eats corn in celebration in victory lane after profitable the NASCAR Cup Collection Iowa Corn 350

“We would have liked to win a race,” Byron mentioned. “I really feel like we deserved to win a race based mostly on how we have run all 12 months, and it simply wasn’t taking place.

“I felt like we needed to discover ways to do principally every little thing proper, and issues had been nonetheless probably not figuring out in our favor. That is only a huge aid to have one sort of go our manner. We’ve simply been operating so effectively this 12 months. That is going to be an enormous momentum enhance for our crew.”

Successful a fuel-mileage race presumably erased some demons for Byron and his crew, as he noticed a few potential victories vanish when he ran out of fuel late in a race throughout the summer season.

Byron, who had gained in NASCAR’s feeder truck and Xfinity sequence on the observe, had completed second within the inaugural Cup race at Iowa a 12 months in the past.

Takeaways from a race the place Byron was adopted throughout the end line by Chase Briscoe, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece.

Byron Again Atop Standings

With the victory, Byron went from 4 factors behind teammate Chase Elliott atop the sequence level standings to 18 factors forward of Elliott and 45 factors forward of teammate Kyle Larson.

Three races (Watkins Glen, Richmond and Daytona) stay within the common season, and the winner of the regular-season title earns 15 extra playoff factors, whereas second is value 10 and third is value eight.

Playoff factors give a driver a greater likelihood to advance within the playoffs in the event that they don’t win a race within the three-race playoff rounds.

William Byron and crew spray champagne in victory lane after profitable  the NASCAR Cup Collection Iowa Corn 350

“I respect my teammates a ton,” Byron mentioned. “I really feel like we study loads from each other. All of us have sort of our distinctive driving kinds, however we have now all sort of morphed into with the ability to drive this automotive rather well.

“It is simply cool to see us all compete, and hopefully us on [my team] can put three good weeks collectively on that finish of issues.”

So far as the playoff bubble, there are at the moment three spots open for drivers with out wins. Tyler Reddick has a 122-point edge on the cutoff, whereas Alex Bowman (+63) and Chris Buescher (+23) are contained in the playoff bubble with Ryan Preece (-23) on the skin trying in.

Keselowski Comes Up Quick

Brad Keselowski must win to make the playoffs and gave the impression to be in the perfect place halfway via the race to manage the occasion.

However with all of the warning flags, his pit technique didn’t pan out as he wanted some longer runs. He completed third on a day when he led 68 laps. 

“Once you’re in visitors, you simply have to make use of the automotive tougher. And by the tip, everyone’s tires had been simply rubbish as a result of we had fought in visitors for thus lengthy,” Keselowski mentioned. “The warning sequence and the way in which the race performed out was not very favorable for us.

Brad Keselowski (proper) and Chris Buescher stroll the grid throughout observe for the NASCAR Cup Collection Iowa Corn 350

“We had good tempo and thought we executed fairly effectively.”

Keselowski was somewhat annoyed.

“All of the wrecks modified the dynamic of the race,” Keselowski mentioned. “It was a extremely sloppy race for the sector right now.

“And it shifted it to the place severely alternate methods gained the race. … I’ve run into individuals, so pot calling kettle black, however I don’t perceive why guys wreck for twentieth. It doesn’t make numerous sense to me.”

Briscoe Backs Up Pole

Briscoe gained his sixth pole of the season, however in his final three races the place he began from the entrance, he had completed seventeenth, twenty third and 18th.

He backed up his being the quickest in qualifying by main 81 laps and ending second, his greatest end of the season in races the place he began from the pole.

Chase Briscoe poses for images after profitable the pole award throughout qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Collection Iowa Corn 350

Briscoe didn’t have to save lots of as a lot gas as Byron, however with all of the cautions and a observe the place components of it had been repaved in 2024 made it troublesome to move.

“As soon as I obtained [to Byron], he began taking my air and my automotive simply sort of died as quickly as that occurred,” Briscoe mentioned. “I assumed I used to be going to have the ability to nonetheless be good, particularly as he caught lapped visitors there. I nonetheless simply didn’t fairly have sufficient.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent a long time protecting motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seashore) Information-Journal. Observe him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

Get extra from the NASCAR Cup Collection Observe your favorites to get details about video games, information and extra