With practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday, William Byron secured an eighth-place starting position for Sunday’s 312-lap race at Pheonix Raceway. Early on, Byron moved his way up to fifth, just as the caution came out on lap 2. Choosing the high lane to restart sixth for the ensuing restart, Byron quickly took over the fourth position and continued to run there until the end of stage one. With the stage finish, Byron crossed the line in fourth despite suffering from a “loose on exit” No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Under the stage break, crew chief Rudy Fugle made the call for his driver to pit for four tires, fuel and both a chassis and air pressure adjustment.
For the start of stage two, Byron lined up in the third position before a quick red flag had Byron restarting fourth on lap 71. He continued to fight within the top five running order before coming down pit road under green on lap 116 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Once pit stops had cycled through, Byron was scored third. Byron continued to run in that position before dropping to fourth as the second stage came to an end. Once the stage ended, Byron remained in the top 10 before crossing under the green-checkered flag in fourth. Under the stage break, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native came down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
Lining up in fourth for the final stage, Byron continued to maintain his top five running position despite needing more grip on exit. As the run continued, Fugle made the call to keep his driver on track longer than their competitors, taking over the lead with 75 laps remaining. Under green on lap 247, Byron came down pit road for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustment. He returned to the track just one lap before the yellow flag came out. With the difference in pit strategy, Byron did not pit and re-claimed the lead for the restart with 55 laps remaining. The 26-year-old driver battled hard before ultimately slipping to second after the restart. He did his best to stay within striking distance of the leader before dropping to third with 20 laps to go. As the race went green to the end, Byron never gave up, ultimately crossing the finish line in the third position – his seventh consecutive top-six finish. His third-place finish also left him with a third-place result in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series points standings.
Byron crossed the finish line first compared to his Hendrick Motorsport teammates, in the third position. Kyle Larson was close behind in fourth. Chase Elliott scored a ninth-placed result while Alex Bowman finished 14th.
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It was a different pit strategy call from crew chief Rudy Fugle. How would you describe that run to the end? Did you feel like you, maybe with a late yellow, you could have had something for Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney?
William Byron: “I don’t know. I know that our No. 24 Axalta Chevy team worked really hard all day, and I feel like we maximized the most part of what we had. We just didn’t quite have enough. Those guys were just faster than us. We would have a short, little surge there in the middle part of the run, and then they would start to drive away on the short and long runs.
“We just didn’t have enough, but I’m really, really proud of our team. We fought hard. It was a great strategy there in the final stage to do something different, but we just didn’t have enough.”