By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
William Byron may have been 13th but Sunday at Michigan International Speedway was an uplifting day for the Hendrick Motorsports rookie.
Starting 14th in the FireKeepers Casino 400, Byron quickly burst the top 10 in his No. 24 Chevrolet, finishing the first stage in eight spot. And though the race saw multiple cautions before rain forced the race to end early on lap 133, Byron kept up to speed with the changing conditions inside the top 15.
And a good car was certainly part of the reason, said Byron.
“That’s the best car we’ve had this year,” Byron told Kickin’ The Tires. “We were able to run top seven or so. Especially after Saturday, we were eighth fastest. We had good driveability so I knew it was going to be solid today. It’s a lot of fun when it’s that way.”
With only one run longer than 30 laps Sunday, Byron’s long-run car lacked that little extra to stay in the top 10 for the second stage and eventual final restart on lap 129. And on a high-speed track like Michigan, Byron knew where he needed a little more.
“We still need to work on a few things, I feel, with the front of our car,” he said. “Overall, we really had a good balance. It seemed to hold on well. I wanted some longer runs but a pretty good race for us.
“It’s a little different not knowing when the race was going to end. Every restart is intense anyway. I wish I could’ve known we were going to get rained on there but from the looks of it, we were going to have the normal stuff we had all day.”
With his best finish since Richmond six races ago, Byron now holds 10 top-20 finishes through 15 races. Only one, however, is a top 10. But as his rookie Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season hits summer, improvement has been felt from reigning XFINITY champion.
“The last two weeks, we’ve been about an eighth or 10th. But we just have to finish them off. We know what we need to do there.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t get a top 10 but overall we ran really well.”