William Byron aims to give Hendrick 300th Cup Series win
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Every driver in the Hendrick Motorsports stable pulled into Kansas Speedway for this week’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race knowing he could be the one to give the team boss his 300th series win.
If Rick Hendrick had his druthers, he might well put William Byron at the top of the list.
Kyle Larson advanced to the next round of the playoffs with last week’s win at Darlington, taking all the pressure off the No. 5 team while giving the 74-year-old owner his 299th win. Now, the pressure is on Byron to join Larson with a victory of his own, even if the No. 24 car is leading the playoff points race and in strong position to advance to the next round.
“I feel like we’ve been struggling to put Saturdays together just in terms of results, but we’ve had speed,” Byron said. “Luckily our Sundays have been really good, so we’ll just have to go to work again tomorrow.”
His luck might be changing Saturday, too. Byron had a suspension part break during practice and thought he would have to start at the rear Sunday, but NASCAR deemed it a part problem rather than a team problem, and that means Byron will start in the ninth position where he had qualified.
Byron already has won five times this season, and his latest victory at Watkins Glen began a streak of three straight top-10 finishes. That included last week at Darlington, where he qualified outside the top 20 yet still finished fourth.
“I think back in the spring, Kyle got spun on like, the fifth lap, and then nearly won that race,” Byron said. “He made it back up. It depends on cautions and restarts, but I mean, I think the goal after the first stage would be 10th to 12th. I think that’s realistic. If we have a good car, I think we can do that. And we had a great car today.”
So did Larson, who qualified second to pole sitter Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott, who failed to qualify for the playoffs after a topsy-turvy season but qualified fourth as he searches for his first win of the year.
The win that would give Hendrick his 300th.
There have been 20 drivers to reach victory lane for Hendrick since his team’s first win with Geoff Bodine on April 29, 1984. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson provided the vast majority of them, but Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are among the stars of the sport who have helped drive the win total ever higher.
“We had a solid race last weekend at Darlington, and it was a good showing for Hendrick Motorsports as a whole,” Byron said. “I think we have the potential to have another solid race this weekend.”
Bell won the pole with a lap of 180.276 mph, giving him a comfortable margin over the rest of the field. He is one point ahead of Bubba Wallace, who would be the first car out of the next round of the playoffs.
“If I keep my guys in it and get our race car, which is super fast, to the end of the race, we are going to be in a really good spot,” Bell said. “I love this racetrack. I love qualifying here, too. It’s so much fun to be able to drive as hard as you can, put it right up against the wall and see what she’s got.”