NASCAR Michigan Review: Where William Byron Really Lost the Race to Denny Hamlin

William Byron had Victory Lane in his sights at Michigan on Sunday before a stroke of misfortune hit him. His No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ran out of fuel with roughly one and a half laps of racing left, and he succumbed to a 28th-place finish. The intense drama that went down at the two-mile oval track deserves a more magnified look.

With 20 laps left, the day seemed to come down to a battle between Byron and Carson Hocevar. Hocevar was running away with the lead when his tire went flat on Lap 182 and foiled an otherwise exceptional performance. This allowed Byron to assume the lead with Denny Hamlin breathing down his neck.

Byron narrated his thoughts at this moment to NASCAR.com, “When I was in second, it was like, ‘OK, I can save here a little bit and maybe manage.’ And then when I got the lead with the 77’s flat, then it was like, ‘OK, I’m in a really good spot to manage because I can just kind of pace it here.’ And it just didn’t pan out that way.”

Hamlin, on the other hand, never had to worry about conserving fuel since he had plenty left in his tank. He pushed Byron to the best of his abilities, and trying to fend him off, the Hendrick Motorsports driver ran out of fuel completely. Keeping the lead is one thing. But to keep it while conserving fuel is not a strategy that works. Byron knows that now.

Hamlin explains how he beat Byron

Denny Hamlin is now a 57-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. Attempting to get past Byron, he knew that the driver would run out of fuel. However, he didn’t want to rely on guesses and used every trick in the book to capture the lead.

Hamlin later said, “At the time, I had the upper hand on him with the car, the lines that I was able to run versus the lines he was able to run.

“And I just saw some vulnerabilities with his car that, after running right on his bumper for 10 laps, I was able to pick him apart or pick the car apart and capitalize on this one spot of the track that I thought that I could get him. It’s a cat-and-mouse game.” 

Byron must be heartbroken that the end of the event played out the way it did. He told Frontstretch, “I don’t know, yeah, it was hard to save enough obviously and keep the lead.

“That’s what kind of drew him [Hamlin] in. It just seemed like he could run hard. It didn’t seem like he had to worry about fuel at all. I was having to do both.”

The 15th round of the season has now ended, and the ball next falls in Mexico City. Perhaps Byron will have better luck then.