It was a bittersweet day for the Hendrick Motorsports team, particularly for their #24 crew. Starting from the pole position — a record-setting achievement in the Next Gen era — William Byron was unstoppable early in the race, dominating the field and leading the first 243 laps, the highest in any race of his career. He controlled the first two stages with ease but lost the lead in the final stage, allowing Denny Hamlin to clinch the victory. Jeff Gordon weighed in on the outcome post-race.
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Gordon, who himself is well-versed with the nuances of racing having bagged 93 Cup wins over 25 years and 805 starts, noted that Byron’s pole position and prolonged lead represented a strong dominance by the #24 team. “That was great,” he commented, but asserted, “These things are hard to let you know to get everything to go exactly right for you.”
However, praising the team’s execution, he pointed out, “I thought they executed flawlessly. The Green Flag pit stops really switched things up, and that seemed to be the game changer. Couple of great stops on that last round of pit stops, but the #11 came out front and were able to pull off the win, so great win for them.”
Byron racked up a race-high 56 points and tightened his grip on the Cup Series points lead by dominating both stages, even extending his front-runner status well into the third stage.
However, the complexion of the race changed with the start of green-flag pit stops. Despite holding a considerable lead, Byron opted to stay out longer than most, while Reddick pitted early and assumed the lead after the pit cycle, pulling nearly seven seconds ahead of Christopher Bell and Byron, who dropped to P3.
In the meantime, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney, equipped with fresher tires, began to make their move, with the Team Penske driver overtaking Reddick with just four laps remaining.
The race twisted once again when a spin and crash triggered the final caution, leading the pack back to pit road for tires. Byron exited the pits in P3, positioned behind Hamlin. Although Byron managed to overtake Reddick for second place, by that time, Hamlin had already built an insurmountable lead.
Byron still leads the standings table
Despite a heart-wrenching near-miss, Byron, off his Daytona 500 victory, has solidified his position at the top of the standings eight weeks into the season. Holding a commanding lead with a tally of 315 points, one win, four top-5s, and five top-10 finishes, the #24 team has maintained a firm grip on the top position.
On the other hand, with two victories this season, Denny Hamlin occupies the second spot on the standings table with 266 points, trailing Byron by 49 points. His teammate, Christopher Bell, who won three consecutive races, is perched in P3 place with 263 points, 52 points adrift of the leader.
In the meantime, Byron’s teammate, Elliott, has solidified his place in the top five, landing in P4 after finishing P8 at Darlington, while Larson is positioned in P6. Alex Bowman completes the top ten, holding the P10 spot.
