CONCORD, N.C. — William Byron was the driver to beat at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Coca-Cola 600 weekend, the same weekend he signed a contract extension through 2029 with Hendrick Motorsports.
After winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series race the night before, the Daytona 500 winner looked to capture his second crown jewel of the season in the NASCAR Cup Series, sweeping the first three stages of the Coke 600.
But the 600 is an entirely different beast from other races, with an extra stage — the stage he was unable to win.
After Byron battled Denny Hamlin for the lead for the later portion, swapping it a few times, Hamlin had to pit late due to insufficient fuel being put into the car on the last pit cycle, putting Ross Chastain in position to steal the win.
Some dirty air from Joey Logano held up the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet, allowing Chastain to pass and Byron to settle for second after a dominating performance.
“I’m frustrated, obviously; just lost the race, so it’s frustrating,” Byron said post-race after leading 283 laps. “I wish I had won it. He ]Chastain] was catching me, and I was trying to defend. He had a run down the frontstretch, and I tried to protect against that, but it was too much. There was a moment I got loose in [turns] and 4, I was able to hang on but lost momentum, and that’s what gave him the run.”
Byron said he felt that the No. 22 of Logano had a hand in him losing the race, too, by the way he was driving among other traffic in the way.
“He was doing the usual,” Byron said. “I do think it was also a lot of traffic in that run, the [No.] 45 [Tyler Reddick] was running hard there and we lost a chunk.”
Looking on the upside, Byron took some positive views away, looking ahead to the long future he has with the team.
“It’s a good lesson, right?” he said. “I’m sure there’s a bigger plan in the future, so I just have to understand what that is and keep working. I feel like my and my team’s abilities are good right now, we just have to capitalize, but it does suck; all you can do is keep learning from it and move forward.”
Byron leaves Charlotte Motor Speedway as the points leader ahead of his teammate, Kyle Larson, with a 29-point gap.
