William Byron had just enough fuel to win the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday. What does his victory at Iowa Speedway mean? Well ...
As the end of the Iowa Corn 350 drew closer and closer Sunday, it seemed like William Byron’s tough-luck streak would continue.
Yes, he held the lead. But the guy who hadn’t posted a top-five finish in two months — and had placed better than 16th only once in the last six races — was running out of fuel at Iowa Speedway.
It had already happened to him in June at Michigan and last week at Indianapolis, too. His outlook appeared bleak.
So how did it turn out?
Byron’s gas tank didn’t hit empty until after his post-win burnout. His No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet possessed enough juice to reach the line, holding off Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski in the process to secure Byron’s second win of the season.
“Man, how about that for some fuel mileage?” he said on the NBC broadcast afterward. “We’ve had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for (crew chief Rudy Fugle), all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop. Just this whole race team, we’ve been through a lot this year. It’s been a lot of growing pains. It’s been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win.”
Let’s break it down.
1. William Byron heads to first Victory Lane since Daytona 500
Just how long did Byron survive without a refill?
He last pitted on Lap 206, gritting through the final 144 go-arounds.
And who was he keeping at bay?
Briscoe, who won the pole Saturday, and Keselowski, who claimed the first two stages.
The victory gave Byron his first top-five ranking since the Nashville race on June 1 and vaulted him back into the points lead. Overall, he has eight top-fives this season. The win also represents the 15th of his Cup Series career.
He’s the fifth driver to lock down multiple victories this season.
“Our confidence in each other never wavered,” Byron said of his team. “I feel like our speed has been better than it’s ever been, and that’s a big reason why we stay confident. I feel like every week we work really hard together and show up prepared, show up fast, and yeah, we needed just one to go our way. Today, it did.”
2. NASCAR playoff standings update
With three races left in the regular season, NASCAR will need three new winners to saturate the 16-car postseason field.
Odds are, that won’t become reality and at least one driver will crack the playoffs on points. Who should feel good right now?
Tyler Reddick should. He sits in 14th in the standings, 122 points above the cutline. Alex Bowman leaves Iowa in 15th, 63 points in the positive. And in the 16th and final playoff spot at the moment is Chris Buescher.
Buescher is 23 points in front of Ryan Preece, who stands as the first man out. Kyle Busch (minus-73), Ty Gibbs (minus-87) and AJ Allmendinger (minus-118) reside in 18th, 19th and 20th.
Buckle up.
3. Next on NASCAR schedule, it's an all-skate at the Glen
Remember that flurry of road courses back from mid-June to mid-July? After three weeks of bread-and-butter oval tracks, NASCAR returns to the longest-running road show in Cup Series history: Watkins Glen International, and the Cup teams aren't leaving anyone behind this coming week.
Preceding next Sunday's Cup race ("Go Bowling at the Glen"), the Xfinity Series races Saturday. Friday, it's a doubleheader, as the Truck Series returns from a week off and races in the afternoon after NASCAR's satellite minor-league circuit — the ARCA series — tackles the Glen.
— Ken Willis contributed to this story
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR results today: William Byron is Iowa Corn 350 race winner
Category: General Sports
