William Byron has been the best NASCAR Cup Series playoff driver in the last two races.
Not only has he earned back-to-back top-five finishes, heโs also been the highest-finishing playoff driver. This has seen Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team already locked into the Round of 8 on points, and going into the elimination race at the Charlotte road course, they are the only ones guaranteed a spot in the next round.
Byron also leads the overall point standings, although in the postseason that hardly matters when itโs about getting to Phoenix Raceway and being the last man standing. You can ask him what it meant to lead the Cup Series in multiple statistics last year before the finale played out at Phoenix. Spoiler alert: It meant nothing. He didnโt win the championship. The 2017 Xfinity series title-winner finished third behind Team Penskeโs Ryan Blaney and his own teammate, Kyle Larson.
But being the only driver locked into the next round and heading the points table has to feel good for now. Actually, it probably feels really good for a driver who was given the chance to defend his race team over the weekend.
Byron was asked by RACER if he was bothered by the comments about his race team. The question stemmed from him telling NBC Sports after the Kansas Speedway race that his team has โgotten a lot of over the summer.โ It was a reference to whatโs become a common theme in recent seasons: the No. 24 team has a dip in results through the midseason.
โIt doesnโt bother me that people say or notice, but it bothers me (because) weโre not that much different from any other team,โ Byron said. โIf you look statistically, we have 10 top fives and 16 top 10s, and thatโs right in line with the other five or six guys that weโre racing. So, yes, we havenโt had a stellar season based on what we did last year, but weโre still plugging along and finishing races in the front โฆ and we just need to continue that.โ
From Daytona to doldrums — the Hendrick team can always turn it around when it counts. Gavin Baker/Motorsport Images
The statistics are spot on. Byron has the second most wins in the series โ three โ behind teammate Kyle Larson and second most top-10 finishes (16) behind Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell.
And to further prove Byronโs point, the top 10 drivers in the Cup Series standings indeed have similar numbers.
Byron: three wins, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s
Bell: three wins, 11 top fives, 19 top 10s
Larson: five wins, 12 top fives, 15 top 10s
Denny Hamlin: three wins, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s
Alex Bowman: one win, seven top fives, 15 top 10s
Ryan Blaney: two wins, nine top fives, 14 top 10s
Tyler Reddick: two wins, 11 top fives, 19 top 10s
Chase Elliott: one win, eight top fives, 15 top 10s
Joey Logano: two wins, five top fives, nine top 10s
Daniel Suarez: one win, three fives, seven top 10s
โIt bothers me that we get treated a little differently because everyone this year has been, for the most part, pretty inconsistent,โ Byron continued. โBut for us, weโre trying to continue to put weeks together and plug away and try to put back-to-back weeks together. Itโs tough when you go from a mile-and-a-half to a speedway; you donโt really have control of that result. So, weโre trying to do more of that โ more consistency.โ
If the results were skewed during the summer, it was, Byron admitted, the product of fast cars with no payoff or slow cars that finished only where they were capable. Byron ended the regular season fifth in the championship standings and was reseeded fourth with 22 playoff points.
Proving the naysayers wrong once again. The No. 24 way. Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Images
Although the comments rubbed him the wrong way, Byron didnโt take it as being written off as a contender for the championship. Nor should he be.
โI feel like thereโs a certain narrative out there of, โHey, theyโre not good in the summertime,โ and I donโt know if thatโs completely true,โ Byron said. โI think we have certain races that are great in the summertime and I think we had certain weeks that we werenโt that great. But you can look across the whole garage and thatโs pretty consistent.โ
Which is why Byron still has as good a shot as anyone to win the Cup Series title. Over the last few weeks heโs been the one who has stood out from the field, and it must bring him added satisfaction that the team is showing its capabilities at the time it matters most.
