William Byron takes the NASCAR Cup race at Texas. Advances to the Round of 8
By Dave Hascall
(Fort Worth, TX) Although Martin Truex, Jr. was the 2023 NASCAR Cup regular-season champion, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, won the most races in the regular season, with five. Byron took Sunday’s race at the Texas Motor Speedway. 23XI driver (owned by Michael Jordan and driver Denny Hamlin) Bubba Wallace set on the pole and looked poised to score his third career Cup win but Byron went three wide with five laps to go, to secure the win. Byron picked a great time to get moving as he hadn’t led the entire race, until the last restart. Byron swept under Wallace and non-playoff driver Chase Briscoe to score the win. Ross Chastain surged around Wallace to take second over Wallace, Christopher Bell, and Hamlin.
Byron’s teammate Kyle Larson held the lead throughout much of the event but crashed out late. Tyler Reddick claimed the first stage with Larson winning the second round. Byron will automatically advance to the next round of the Cup playoffs. There are two more races in this round, which will trim the playoff field from 12 to 8. Talladega is next week, followed by the Charlotte Roval. Both the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Roval (Road course and oval mashup) are big question marks as both are often plagued with major accidents. Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Reddick, and Wallace are in positions 9-12, currently. But Wallace is only two points below the cut-line.