NASCAR
William Byron is the Boss at COTA, Becomes 2024’s First Repeat Cup Winner
AUSTIN, Texas – Reigning Daytona 500 champion William Byron left little doubt to who was king of the road at COTA. Starting from pole, the Hendrick No. 24 Chevrolet took off and left the competition in the dust. Even with fresher tires chasing him down late, nobody could knock Byron off the top step. 2024’s first repeat winner, this is beginning to look a lot like another big year for William Byron.
Byron was clearly the class of the field early, yet opted to short pit each stage. These strategy calls handed the stage wins to Toyota teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. When the final stage went green, Byron initially lost the lead but soon regained the top spot.
The final cycle of green flag pit stops netted Byron’s 24 a large gap for the final run. One challenger did emerge however, as Christopher Bell made his last pit stop four laps later than Byron. With fresher tires, Bell carved his way through the field and was within eyesight of Byron coming to the checkers. The No. 20 Toyota simply ran out of time though, eventually trailing Byron by sixth tenths of a second.
“I feel like I made a lot of mistakes in the last 10 laps, just micro errors and Christopher (Bell) was really fast there on the longer run,” Byron said. “This sport is so hard and so difficult week in and week out to show up and have fast cars. We’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch the last few weeks but put a lot of preparation in this past week. Just thankful for the team I have around me and all the people back home as well. Just super thankful to have this opportunity. It’s just a lot of fun to win races and it’s really difficult too.”
Behind Byron and Bell at the finish were: Ty Gibbs, Alex Bowman, and defending COTA winner Tyler Reddick. AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top-10.
For the third straight year, William Byron is the first driver to earn a second win. The last driver to pull off this feat in three consecutive seasons was coincidentally Jeff Gordon (1997-1999), also in the Hendrick 24. Byron will have a great chance to continue his winning ways at a few upcoming tracks.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Richmond Raceway next week. This year’s Easter Sunday show will be the Toyota Owners 400, going green at 7:00 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Toyotas are historically lights out quick at Richmond; can anyone end their dominant streak?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Johnathan Bachman/Getty Images
