William Byron's Attempt to Lead Start-to-Finish Arguably Cost Him Darlington Race
1 min agoIn yesterday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington, polesitter 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.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference

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