William Byron Conquers Iowa Speedway and Secures a Crucial Boost Before the Playoffs
William Byron, already qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, arrived at Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway looking for a turnaround. Despite his strong position in the championship, Byron was not satisfied with recent results. With five results below 27th place in the last eight races, the driver was looking to regain confidence on a track where he had been successful in the past. “We’ve been fast every weekend,” Byron commented. “It’s just that the results hadn’t materialized, and that was starting to affect us.” Byron’s strategy, focused on fuel management, gave him the victory, his second of the season. He managed to complete the last 144 laps of the race without stopping, thanks to a third stage full of yellow flags that allowed him to conserve fuel. With this victory, Byron leaves Iowa Speedway, where he has won in all three NASCAR series, with an 18-point lead over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, in the fight for the regular season title.Byron, winner of the Daytona 500 at the beginning of the season, has eight top-10 finishes this year, including three second places. However, he has also faced setbacks, such as a 37th place in Atlanta, a 40th in the Chicago street race, and a 31st in Dover. Last week, in Indianapolis, he finished in 16th place after a late pit stop for fuel. The team boss, Rudy Fugle, expected this result. “He’s an incredible driver. I think he’s the best overall right now. He’s maturing and gaining the experience to prove it. He’s very versatile and a fighter. He doesn’t give up,” said Fugle. Byron had had problems with fuel consumption in Michigan and Indianapolis the previous week. Despite this, Fugle trusted his driver. “He has improved over the years, adapting to unforeseen events. And suddenly, you’re leading and have the opportunity to win,” added Fugle. Byron admitted he felt nervous as the final laps progressed on Sunday. “I knew what to expect, as far as if I was going to run out of fuel. I was thinking about saving as much as I could, doing a lot of different things in the car, lifting earlier and not using a lot of power. The guys did a great job guiding me.” Byron thought he had some fuel left at the end. “I felt like if I could get out of turn four, going into the last lap, I could win the race. That’s what was on my mind. And it was mostly true. When I did the burnout, at the end, the fuel pressure went up. I don’t know how many more laps I would have done.” Now, Byron feels renewed for the playoffs. “I felt we needed to win a race like that, we deserved it for how we’ve grown this year, and it just wasn’t happening. It’s a great relief that things went well. We’ve run very well this year; I think this is going to be a big boost for our team.”“This is going to change the course,” Byron affirmed.
William Byron
