April 28, 2025
William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports had an up-and-down day during the Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Beginning the race from the 16th position, Byron quietly rode with the pack during the race's first stage until the first set of pit stops. Byron had his first pit stop under caution after a few other drivers crashed, but gained track position as a result. Byron made a run towards the front with his teammate Kyle Larson, ending the first stage in second and scoring nine stage points. In the second stage, Byron remained competitive, challenging for the lead in a few instances until he experienced steering issues. This caused him to drop back in the pack and end stage two in 18th, making him unable to earn further stage points. In the final stage, Byron's team addressed the steering issues and returned to the front by the end of the race, thanks to effective pit strategy and gradual track position gains. Byron was in a position to compete for the win, pushing Ryan Preece, but settled for what was initially a fourth-place finish. Preece would end up getting disqualified in post-race inspection, crediting Byron with a finish of third in Sunday's event. This finish continues a streak of what is now five consecutive top-10 finishes at Talladega for Byron.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
April 27, 2025
In the Next Gen era, William Byron has been one of the best at drafting tracks. In addition to his two Daytona 500 victories, Byron also has two wins over at Atlanta, which was recently converted into a drafting-style track. One place that Byron has yet to get a win at, though, is Talladega Superspeedway--although you have to think that a victory is coming soon. Over the six Next Gen races at this track, Byron has yet to finish worse than 15th at Talladega, and he's currently on a four-race streak of top-seven results. In the last two fall races, he's came home with podium finishes each time. This weekend, Willy B qualified mid-pack in 16th, which gives him Place Differential upside with a moderate amount of risk. In tournament-style contests on DraftKings, he makes for a strong play to consider, especially when you take into account his history at this track type.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: NASCAR.com
April 14, 2025
When Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin started on the second row in Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol, most people expected one or the other to dominate and overtake front-row starters Alex Bowman and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. It turned out to be Larson, who led over 400 laps for the second consecutive Bristol race, but Hamlin ran in the top five for the entire race (except for pit stop exchanges) and eventually finished second. He never had anything for Larson but was also never really challenged for second in the second half of the race after Bowman's engine failure. Although he failed to win his third race in a row, he gained 19 points on William Byron in the championship and now trails him by a mere 30 points.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 14, 2025
Despite 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
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