NASCAR: Byron prevails at The Glen

Leading 66 of 90 laps, William Byron won the NASCAR Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen, continuing Hendrick Motorsports dominance at the track.

With the win, Hendrick Chevrolets have won the last five NASCAR Cup Series races at the track, dating back to 2018.

Denny Hamlin finished runner-up, while Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

Kyle Larson, the reigning back-to-back winner at The Glen, finished 26th.

Due to Byron being a repeat winner, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick have provisionally clinched playoff berths.

The Cup Series will conclude the regular season at Daytona International Speedway in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Aug. 26.

William Byron

It looked like a post-season warning shot more than anything else. Maybe the most dominant win of your career, William?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I’d have to think about it a little bit, but definitely. It feels really good, man. You know, just a huge credit to the race team behind me. I want to thank Max Papis. This first road course win, we’ve worked years and years for this. Thanks to him. I know he’s watching back home.

Thanks to all the guys on the team, Valvoline, Liberty, AXALTA. I did a lot of laps on iRacing this week. I got a new simulator at home, so thanks to those guys, and just thanks to everyone back home, the guys who support me. It’s a great win.

I don’t know what it means and all that. I don’t read into that. But I think it shows that when we’re at our best, we can perform like this.

I don’t think anybody is going to cry poor with your fifth win of the year, William. How needed was this for the 24 team after the summer slide?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, we seem to go through that summer slump in July and August, and for some reason we just can’t quite put the races together. I think it’s the racetracks itself.

Yeah, just came this weekend with a good mindset, focusing on trying to get ready for the post-season, and we’ve had fast cars, we just haven’t executed races, but today was flawless, and just Rudy, everybody, all the spotters. Thanks to everybody. This is a cool win.

Like I said, road courses have been tough, so it’s fun to get a win.

How about his call to get you that track position running one lap further on that first run than everybody else?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, just really good strategy by those guys. Brandon McSwain on the box. Those two guys work really well together, Ryan Kelly back at the shop. It was kind of like the old F1 style, stay out, get clean air, get a good lap in, and we pitted there and got the lead, and it was kind of ours from there.

Just really proud of the team. Really awesome to get a road course win.

Race Results