After a reasonably tame race for COTA requirements, William Byron took house his second win of the season and twelfth of his profession. This is what we realized after Sunday’s race in Austin, Texas.
Hendrick regains management of the collection
After two consecutive weeks of Toyota decimating the sphere, Byron made positive that Hendrick Motorsports was effectively represented on the entrance of the pack, as did his teammate Alex Bowman, who completed fourth. Whereas many thought-about Byron a championship contender going into Sunday’s race, a few mediocre runs in a row had dampened the joy that adopted his Daytona 500 win. After Sunday’s dominating win, he is all the fashion once more for these choosing the championship. One other nugget? Byron has received twice within the first six races in all three seasons with the Subsequent-Gen automobile and has essentially the most wins (10) of any driver with the automobile, courting again to the beginning of the 2022 season.
Toyota comes shut, however cannot fairly shut the deal
Whereas Toyota had a number of automobiles end within the prime 5 for the third consecutive race, they must really feel like Sunday’s race was a missed alternative. Differing methods from Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs gave the benefit to Byron and Bowman, and although Bell was the quickest automobile on monitor late, he was too far again to chase down the No. 24. Perhaps he would get to Byron if he obtained previous Gibbs faster, however it is a race that Toyota – particularly, Bell – could have on their thoughts for a very long time.
Ross Chastain’s sluggish cease dooms his day
Chastain’s seventh-place end is definitely a very good day, however for a driver who spent a very good chunk of the race within the prime 5, Sunday’s race is a narrative of what may have been. A sluggish pit cease in the course of the discipline’s remaining journey to pit highway not solely put Chastain far behind race chief Byron but additionally behind the likes of Bowman, Gibbs and Bell. Tyler Reddick and A.J. Allmendinger later discovered their method round Chastain, leaving the Alva, Fla. native to complete six spots wanting the place he may’ve ended if not for the sluggish cease.
Ford is a no-show as soon as extra – time to be apprehensive?
After zero Fords made the ultimate spherical of qualifying on Saturday, many followers wrote off the blue ovals on race day. Because it seems, that was a superbly affordable factor to do. The one Ford to complete inside the highest ten was native Texas son Chris Buescher, who positioned eighth. After that, the Group Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney completed eleventh and twelfth, however Ford confirmed an entire lack of pace as soon as extra in Austin. As the one producer with zero wins six weeks by the season, the executives in Detroit might be pacing the board rooms, determined for a trophy because the circuit heads to Richmond subsequent week.
