William Byron Conquers Iowa Speedway with Fuel Strategy
William Byron, already qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, was in second place in the overall standings before Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway. Despite his position, Byron was not satisfied with the recent performance leading up to the final stage of the regular season. In the previous eight races, Byron had five results below 27th place. He was looking to regain confidence on a track where he had been successful in the past, especially with the arrival of the playoffs.Byron’s strategy in Iowa was key. He bet on fuel efficiency, which allowed him to secure his second victory of the season. The NASCAR driver completed the last 144 laps of the race (out of a total of 350) without stopping, and the multiple yellow flags in the third stage helped him conserve the fuel needed to reach the finish line. With this victory, Byron extended his lead over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Chase Elliott, to 18 points in the regular season title fight.I think we’ve been fast every weekend. I mean, I don’t remember a week where we’ve been slow; the results just haven’t come. And it was starting to affect us a little bit and create a kind of ‘What’s going to happen next?’
William Byron
Byron, who won the Daytona 500 at the start of the season, has achieved eight top 10 finishes, including three second places. However, he struggled in other races, such as Atlanta, Chicago, and Dover. In Indianapolis, the previous week, he had to make a late stop to refuel. The team boss, Rudy Fugle, expected this result. “He’s an incredible driver. I think he’s the best driver, overall, right now. He’s mine, and I should say that. But I really think he’s maturing and gaining the experience to prove it. He’s very versatile and he’s a fighter. He has a hard line and fights against everything. He doesn’t give up,” Fugle commented. Byron had problems with fuel consumption in Michigan and, again, in Indianapolis. Despite this, Fugle trusted his driver. Byron admitted to being nervous in the final laps on Sunday. “I knew what to expect. I knew what to look for, and all that in terms of if I was running out of fuel. But I was just thinking about conserving as much as I could, doing a lot of different things in the car, lifting earlier and just not using a lot of percentage of the throttle. So the guys did a really good job guiding me on what to do,” he explained. Byron thought he had a little fuel left at the end. “I felt like if I could get out of turn four, get into the white flag, I could win the race. So that’s what was in my head. And that was mostly true. When I did the burnout, at the end of the burnout, the fuel pressure went up. So I don’t know how many laps it would have been,” he added. Now, Byron hopes to capitalize on this victory to face the playoffs with renewed momentum. “I really feel like we needed to win a race like this, we deserve to win a race based on how we’ve grown throughout the year, and it just wasn’t happening. It’s a great relief for us that something goes right. We’ve been running very well this year; I feel like this is going to be a big boost of momentum for our team,” he concluded.This is going to change the course.
William Byron
