1 week agoDespite blowing his qualifying lap after expecting to win the pole, William Byron recovered from 26th to finish sixth at Bristol, which would've been called a good points day in the Latford points system era. It doesn't matter as much in today's playoff points system where wins and stage wins are vastly more important, but making the most out of bad situations will help him in his quest to win the regular season championship and max out the regular season playoff points. Since Byron tends to have a history of being hot in the first third of the season before fading in the second third, having a strong cushion now will likely help him in the summer races at tracks where he doesn't tend to run as well.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
1 week agoWilliam Byron of Hendrick Motorsports obtained a starting position of 26th for this week's race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Food City 500. Byron is the only driver from Hendrick to fail to qualify inside the top 20 this week. In 11 races at Bristol, Byron has seven top-20 finishes, with four inside the top 10. In eight races so far this season, Byron has one win, six top-20 finishes, and an average finish of 9.5, which is the best of all full-time drivers this year. In practice, Byron ranked eighth in overall lap averages while displaying top-10 speeds in the 20, 25, and 30 consecutive lap average categories. With his high upside, despite his last two Bristol finishes being underwhelming, Byron is worth rostering in all DFS formats this week due to his equipment and overall 2025 performance.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: DriverAverages.com
2 weeks agoIn Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington, pole-sitter William Byron started the race with 243 consecutive laps led, the most since Jeff Burton led every lap in the second Loudon race of 2000. However, Byron's attempt to lead every lap arguably ended up costing him the race, as the race had several green-flag pit cycles, meaning Byron needed to stay out several laps later to maintain his lead, which meant there was a risk of other drivers who pitted sooner beating him out of the pits by posting substantially faster lap times. Although he was bailed out by the debris caution in the middle of Stage 2, his long-pitting cost him the lead in Stage 3, as both Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell jumped him before Ryan Blaney passed all of them. Byron did gain several spots in the pits during the final caution preceding the overtime restart, which resulted in a second-place finish and expanded his points lead to 49 points over eventual winner Denny Hamlin.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
2 weeks agoLook for William Byron to be strong in this weekend's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. In addition to winning the pole for Sunday's race, the No. 24 Chevrolet was very strong in practice ranking fourth-best in 10-lap average. Additionally, Byron has been one of, if not the best at Darlington in the Next Gen era, as the Hendrick Motorsports driver has the best average finish (10.3) and the best Driver Rating (107.2) in the six races here with this car. Look for Willy B to lead early and often in Sunday's Goodyear 400. The Hendrick Chevrolets have been great on the long run all season long, and Byron excels at Darlington Raceway. He's priced at $9,900 on DraftKings and with his dominator upside as well as his race-winning potential, he enters Sunday's race as one of the strongest fantasy options on the slate this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
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