William Byron overcomes spin, scores rain-shortened Atlanta victory

William Byron seems to have a penchant for winning after coming out of nowhere. While his first three victories of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season came after surviving overtime despite not being the top driver in any of them, he was in the right place at the right time at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Despite a spin through the infield on lap 85 after wrecking with Corey LaJoie, pit strategy placed Byron at the front by Stage #3. He took the lead from A.J. Allmendinger on lap 167 and led for twenty laps before rain arrived. With the race having crossed the halfway point by completing 185 of a scheduled 260 laps, NASCAR elected to declare it over after a short red flag.

“We went through so much throughout the night, spinning through the infield, destroyed the bottom of the car dragging it around the apron trying to stay on the lead lap. At that point you just don’t have the grip, so I was real edgy back in traffic,” said Byron. “Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made a good call to pit there and then stay out, and once we got towards the front it was okay. We could honestly make the right decisions, block okay, and got the lead from A.J. and just was able to manage the run.”

Fords dominated the race before concerns about weather led to alternative pit calls as Stage #2 drew to an end. Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing colleague Chris Buecher finished the segment first and third with Team Penske allies Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric in second and fourth, and Blaney had also won Stage #1. With the rain approaching, drivers like Michael McDowell and Byron elected to stay out instead of pit between stages, placing them towards the front with the hope of being the leader by the time the race is delayed.

However, this strategy also backfired in the faces of those like 23XI Racing, where Bubba Wallace pitted for two tyres and was the first off pit road only to be collected in a crash with Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Buescher fell out of the top ten, as did pole winner and fellow Ford Aric Almirola.

“We had twelve to fourteen laps left of fuel and that was not enough and we ended up running fifteen laps or so. I think we made the right call, we just needed the rain to be ten minutes earlier or ten minutes later,” commented Keselowski, who finished sixth. “It’s just part of the deal. You win races you shouldn’t and you lose ones you probably should win and you have to take the punches as they come.”

J.J. Yeley placed seventh for his first top ten since the 2013 Daytona 500.

Race results