NASCAR takeaways: William Byron finally has enough fuel for first win since Daytona 500
Yes, he held the lead. But the guy who hadn't posted a top-five finish in two months — and had placed better than 16th only once in the last six races — was running out of fuel at Iowa Speedway.
It had already happened to him in June at Michigan and last week at Indianapolis, too. His outlook appeared bleak.
So how did it turn out?
Byron's gas tank didn't hit empty until after his post-win burnout. His No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet possessed enough juice to reach the line, holding off Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski in the process to secure Byron's second win of the season.
'Man, how about that for some fuel mileage?' he said on the NBC broadcast afterward. 'We've had our fair share of things not go our way with fuel mileage, and just super thankful for (crew chief Rudy Fugle), all these guys, all the engineers, all the engineers back at the shop. Just this whole race team, we've been through a lot this year. It's been a lot of growing pains. It's been tough on us. But it feels really good today to get a win.'
Let's break it down.
1. William Byron heads to first Victory Lane since Daytona 500
Just how long did Byron survive without a refill?
He last pitted on Lap 206, gritting through the final 144 go-arounds.
And who was he keeping at bay?
Briscoe, who won the pole Saturday, and Keselowski, who claimed the first two stages.
The victory gave Byron his first top-five ranking since the Nashville race on June 1 and vaulted him back into the points lead. Overall, he has eight top-fives this season. The win also represents the 15th of his Cup Series career.
He's the fifth driver to lock down multiple victories this season.
'Our confidence in each other never wavered,' Byron said of his team. 'I feel like our speed has been better than it's ever been, and that's a big reason why we stay confident. I feel like every week we work really hard together and show up prepared, show up fast, and yeah, we needed just one to go our way. Today, it did.'
2. NASCAR playoff standings update
With three races left in the regular season, NASCAR will need three new winners to saturate the 16-car postseason field.
Odds are, that won't become reality and at least one driver will crack the playoffs on points. Who should feel good right now?
Tyler Reddick should. He sits in 14th in the standings, 122 points above the cutline. Alex Bowman leaves Iowa in 15th, 63 points in the positive. And in the 16th and final playoff spot at the moment is Chris Buescher.
Buescher is 23 points in front of Ryan Preece, who stands as the first man out. Kyle Busch (minus-73), Ty Gibbs (minus-87) and AJ Allmendinger (minus-118) reside in 18th, 19th and 20th.
Buckle up.
3. Next on NASCAR schedule, it's an all-skate at the Glen
Remember that flurry of road courses back from mid-June to mid-July? After three weeks of bread-and-butter oval tracks, NASCAR returns to the longest-running road show in Cup Series history: Watkins Glen International, and the Cup teams aren't leaving anyone behind this coming week.
Preceding next Sunday's Cup race ("Go Bowling at the Glen"), the Xfinity Series races Saturday. Friday, it's a doubleheader, as the Truck Series returns from a week off and races in the afternoon after NASCAR's satellite minor-league circuit — the ARCA series — tackles the Glen.
— Ken Willis contributed to this story
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR results today: William Byron is Iowa Corn 350 race winner
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inside the Courtland Sutton deal
The Broncos have been securing their key players to long-term contracts. One such player to get a new deal was receiver Courtland Sutton. Due to make $14 million in 2025, Sutton recently signed a four-year, $92 million extension. That's a new-money average of $23 million per year. Here's the full breakdown of the contract, per a source with knowledge of the terms: 1. Signing bonus: $18.5 million. 2. 2025 base salary: $4 million, fully guaranteed. 3. 2026 option bonus: $12 million, fully guaranteed. 4. 2026 base salary: $4.735 million, fully guaranteed. 5. 2026 per-game roster bonus: $765,000 total, fully guaranteed but must be earned. 6. 2027 base salary: $19.235 million, $1 million of which is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2027 league year. 8. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $765,000 total. 9. 2028 base salary: $20.735 million. 10. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $765,000 total. 11. 2029 base salary: $23.375 million. 12. 2029 per-game roster bonus: $765,000 total. The deal has $40 million fully guaranteed at signing. The other $1 million in injury guarantees vests in 2027. It's clearly a second-tier deal. Good but not among the highest-paid of all receivers. With Bengals receiver Ja'Marr Chase now north of $40 million, Sutton is at $23 million in new-money APY. From signing, the five-year deal has an annual average of $21.2 million.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Maikel Garcia's solo home run (11)
Maikel Garcia rips a solo home run over the Green Monster, going back-to-back with Vinnie Pasquantino and cutting the Red Sox lead to 8-3
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jakorian Bennett-Thomas Booker trade grades: Who won the Eagles-Raiders deal?
The Philadelphia Eagles and Las Vegas Raiders just pulled off a player-for-player trade, as the Raiders sent cornerback Jakorian Bennett to the Eagles for defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV. The Eagles needed a bit more depth in the secondary, and the Raiders needed a bit more depth on the defensive line. For each player, this is a chance to press for more playing time with their new teams. However, how did these teams grade out with this player-for-player swap? As you can probably expect, there is a real winner in this, and he is not the general manager for Las Vegas. Let's grade this August NFL trade and determine who got the edge on the deal. Eagles grade Yes, the Eagles won this. Of course they did. We're not sure how the Eagles got Bennett, an ascending talent who flashed real potential with the Raiders, without having to give up any draft capital. Durability has been a bit of a concern for the third-year cornerback, but he could thrive in a rotational role and could even push to start at the second outside corner spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell. It's a little trite at this point to pull out the "How did Howie Roseman get away with this?!" sign, but this is a sweet deal for a young player pressing for a higher ceiling. Giving up only Booker, squarely a role player for the Eagles, is a steal for a player who could push for a starting job. Grade: A Raiders grade The player isn't the problem. After the team's surprise release of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, the Raiders needed more depth in the trenches. Booker earned snaps with the Eagles last year in their stacked defensive tackle room. That alone gives him a pretty good inside track to making the Las Vegas roster and earning playing time with his new team. He may well be a nice add for first-year general manager John Spytek. However, the fact that he didn't even get a low-round draft pick to go along with Booker for Bennett, the superior player who could push to start at cornerback for Philadelphia... rookie mistake. The Raiders will probably regret this deal... not for adding Booker, but for only getting a single player out of trading away a rising player on a rookie deal like Bennett. Grade: C+ This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jakorian Bennett-Thomas Booker trade grades: Who won Eagles-Raiders deal?
