William Byron took the checkered flag in Las Vegas and that means the folks at Hendrick Motorsports are very happy. It helps that Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman gave them a 1-2-3 finish in the NASCAR Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motorspeedway.
This race was going to come down to a Hendrick driver the only question is which one? William Byron led 175 laps or so and was by far the fastest car on the day. His pit crew made sure he remained the fastest car in overtime.
During Byron’s postrace comments on the track, he shouted out his injured teammate Chase Elliott. If Elliott had been there, this might have been a 1-2-3-4 finish for Hendrick. Scary to think about.
“It’s all about the team, so. It’s a great pit crew. Thinking of Chase back home. Wish he was out here with us. You know, he’s a great racecar driver, great teammate. So, wish he was out here.”
You never want to see another driver get injured. When it is a teammate, that can be especially hard. You heard it from William Byron. Chase is not only the most popular driver in the Cup Series with fans, but he’s also a driver that teammates and others like as well.
This was a fitting tribute for Elliott who is sidelined with a broken leg. He suffered the injury while snowboarding ahead of Sunday’s race.
William Byron Gets the Job Done
When you lead so many laps, it helps to win. William Byron is a driver that has led a lot of laps in the last two years now. This was his race to lose from the jump. Joey Logano clearly didn’t have the long speed early on. It lasted throughout the race until he was taken out by contact with Brad Keselowski.
Byron almost saw this win disappear from his grasp as his teammate Kyle Larson took the lead late in the final laps. Aric Almirola made contact with the wall and brought out the caution flag to set us up for overtime.
In the end, William Byron won. Larson would have to settle for second while Bowman finished third. On the day, Chevy was dominant. Bubba Wallace was the top Toyota with a p4 finish on the day.
Is this a breakout season for the No. 24 team?
