William Byron puts up dominant performance to win from the pole at COTA
While he didn’t lead all of the laps, William Byron did lead a ton of laps from the pole position to win at Circuit of the Americas. The Daytona 500 winner now has his second checkered flag of the 2024 NASCAR season.
Last year, William Byron won the pole at COTA, but he couldn’t close out the job in the end. This year, Byron looked like a different driver. He’s also proven himself to be among the elite road course racers in the Cup Series with this win today.
This is the first time that Byron has won the pole at a road course and also won the race. A complete weekend from the No. 24 team and a very strong statement from Byron himself. He outlasted a very fast JGR duo of Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs.
William Byron becomes the first driver to reach two wins this season. This is his 12th career win in the Cup Series and his eighth win since the start of 2023. Byron continues to rise after his break through 2023 season.
There were no caution flags for the incident, only the stage cautions. A ton of green flag racing meant drivers were working the entire race, sawing the wheel around the many turns of COTA. Drivers were worn out after this race. Corey LaJoie was taken to the infield care center after getting out of his car.
William Byron wins in usual COTA pit strategy race
With the way the stages are laid out at COTA, most drivers pit before the end of the stage. It allows them to extend their tires and fuel and race for the lead rather than points in the stage. It has happened pretty much every year NASCAR has come to the track.
This race more or less had the same strategy as years past. The one difference was Christopher Bell who chose to run long into Stage 2 instead of pitting at the end of Stage 1. It almost worked out as Bell came up short in P2, about one second behind Byron for the lead.
Bell would win Stage 1 due to his pit strategy. Then, in Stage 2, it was Denny Hamlin who took the win. Hamlin didn’t have winning speed and with a win already in his pocket, decided to stay out for points and the playoff point that comes with a stage win.
No, this race didn’t have an exciting overtime restart. There wasn’t any wacky ending or big surprise at the end for Byron. But the 24 team earned this the way racers love to earn wins. They went out there and just beat everybody fair and square.
By the time the final pit stops filtered the field one more time, William Byron came out on top. He was able to get off of pit road three seconds faster than Ross Chastain on green flag pit stops, opening the door for him to race to the checkered flag.