“Try Not to Do It”: William Byron Has No Issue With NASCAR Punishing Chase Elliott

While Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron seems to be enjoying a great year, teammate Chase Elliott is experiencing the worst Cup Season of his career. Elliott’s season has been plagued by a snowboarding injury, a race suspension, and running out of fuel mid-race, all of which have contributed to his elimination from the playoffs.

To add to his woes, he was recently penalized for jumping the restart at Vegas. During a recent interview, Byron spoke about the restart penalties handed out to Elliott and explained why he finds no issue with NASCAR’s decision.

William Byron is fine with Chase Elliott getting a restart penalty

During an interview, journalist Bob Pockrass asked if NASCAR sent a message to all drivers by penalizing AJ Allmendinger and Chase Elliott for their restarts. Subsequently, Byron replied, “For sure, I mean, I think that that’s something that has come up more in the last handful of weeks… I would say since Denny said something at like Kansas really started to kind of get on their radar about policing the restarts and I think it’s been needed for a little bit.”

He added, “But yeah, it’s definitely kind of a change in the way the races are called in that sense, and I already kind of adjusted… I started to kind of pay attention to it and try not to do it so it’s it’s definitely a it’s a fine line.”

“You can’t be right on the bumper, the guy in front of you because there are stacked ups and you don’t want to get damage to your car and stuff like that. But you try to get, try to stay within that window that is kind of appropriate by their standards.”

Lastly, the HMS driver expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance on restarts throughout the year, stating that he believes they have done a good job. Although he was unsure of the exact statistics, he felt confident that they ended up doing well for most restarts and was not overly concerned about their performance in this area.

Byron explains if drivers have an idea of what to do on restarts

Speaking further in the conversation, Pockrass asked if drivers understood how and when to stay within the window on the restarts. The HMS driver explained, “Yeah, I mean, I think if you’re it’s hard because when you’re further back in the field, the gap that you want to have to not get checked. Up and not run into the guy right in front of you is a lot bigger.”

Further stating, “So when you’re upfront, just trying to kind of stay within that window of what you think is acceptable. I guess it’s all really subjective, but really just trying to stay within that reasonable space where you feel like it’s reasonable.”

So at the end of the day, Elliott and Allmendinger’s penalty may have been a way for NASCAR to send a message that any unfair advantage gained on the restart would be penalized in the future without exception. Listening to Byron’s comments, getting the restart just about perfectly timed so as to not jump the gun might remain a tricky affair going forward.