William Byron overcomes spin, scores rain-shortened Atlanta victory

William Byron seems to have a penchant for winning after coming out of nowhere. While his first three victories of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season came after surviving overtime despite not being the top driver in any of them, he was in the right place at the right time at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Despite a spin through the infield on lap 85 after wrecking with Corey LaJoie, pit strategy placed Byron at the front by Stage #3. He took the lead from A.J. Allmendinger on lap 167 and led for twenty laps before rain arrived. With the race having crossed the halfway point by completing 185 of a scheduled 260 laps, NASCAR elected to declare it over after a short red flag.

“We went through so much throughout the night, spinning through the infield, destroyed the bottom of the car dragging it around the apron trying to stay on the lead lap. At that point you just don’t have the grip, so I was real edgy back in traffic,” said Byron. “Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made a good call to pit there and then stay out, and once we got towards the front it was okay. We could honestly make the right decisions, block okay, and got the lead from A.J. and just was able to manage the run.”

Fords dominated the race before concerns about weather led to alternative pit calls as Stage #2 drew to an end. Brad Keselowski and RFK Racing colleague Chris Buecher finished the segment first and third with Team Penske allies Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric in second and fourth, and Blaney had also won Stage #1. With the rain approaching, drivers like Michael McDowell and Byron elected to stay out instead of pit between stages, placing them towards the front with the hope of being the leader by the time the race is delayed.

However, this strategy also backfired in the faces of those like 23XI Racing, where Bubba Wallace pitted for two tyres and was the first off pit road only to be collected in a crash with Ryan Preece and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Buescher fell out of the top ten, as did pole winner and fellow Ford Aric Almirola.

“We had twelve to fourteen laps left of fuel and that was not enough and we ended up running fifteen laps or so. I think we made the right call, we just needed the rain to be ten minutes earlier or ten minutes later,” commented Keselowski, who finished sixth. “It’s just part of the deal. You win races you shouldn’t and you lose ones you probably should win and you have to take the punches as they come.”

J.J. Yeley placed seventh for his first top ten since the 2013 Daytona 500.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	18	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	185	Running
2	26	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	185	Running
3	19	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	185	Running
4	20	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	185	Running
5	22	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	185	Running
6	11	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	185	Running
7	24	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	185	Running
8	17	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	185	Running
9	2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	185	Running
10	29	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	185	Running
11	25	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	185	Running
12	10	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	185	Running
13	23	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	185	Running
14	14	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	185	Running
15	15	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	185	Running
16	9	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	185	Running
17	4	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	185	Running
18	1	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	185	Running
19	27	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	185	Running
20	35	78	B.J. McLeod	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	185	Running
21	33	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	185	Running
22	3	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	185	Running
23	34	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	185	Running
24	13	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	185	Running
25	37	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	185	Running
26	36	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	185	Running
27	12	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	185	Running
28	5	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	184	Running
29	16	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	184	Running
30	6	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	181	Running
31	28	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	179	Running
32	21	51	Cole Custer*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	178	Running
33	31	42	Noah Gragson	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	174	Running
34	7	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	150	Running
35	30	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	124	DVP
36	8	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	111	Accident
37	32	62	Austin HIll*	Beard Motorsports	Chevrolet	92	DVP

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points