William Byron Dominates Las Vegas Cup Series Race, Hendrick Motorsports Finishes 1-2-3

On Sunday, William Byron won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in dramatic fashion, taking the lead on the second-to-last lap of overtime and putting an exclamation mark on a dominant day for Hendrick Motorsports. Byron, who led 176 of the day’s 271 laps and won both stages of the race, earned Chevrolet’s 11th NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the manufacturer’s fourth win in the series’ past six races at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.

Byron was the dominant force for the first two-thirds of the race, but lost the lead during a round of pit stops late in the race and it appeared his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson was going to cruise to the victory.[0] However, a caution with four laps to go caused the race to go into overtime and Byron’s two fresh tires were enough to get past Martin Truex Jr. on the first lap of the restart and pull away on the second.[1]

Larson was disappointed to finish second, but commended Byron and his team, “I felt like William was gonna get by him. Just a bummer that we didn’t end up the winner, but all in all, William probably had a little better car than I had today. Their pit crew executed when they needed to at the end.”[2]

Alex Bowman made the first three a Hendrick sweep, finishing third.[3] Hendrick drivers achieved a one-two-three finish in a Cup race for the third time.[4] Bubba Wallace was fourth and Christopher Bell fifth, while Josh Berry, substituting for Elliott, finished 29th, two laps down, in his first race in NASCAR’s Next Gen car.[1]

The third straight win for Chevrolet to start the season makes it the first time drivers from the same manufacturer have won the first three races of a season since Chevy drivers won the first three races of 2010.[0] Joey Logano also made an appearance, finishing 36th.[5]

The next Cup race will be the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 15th with the South Point 400.[6] It will be broadcasted on NBC and PRN.[6]

0. “Byron rallies in overtime to lead Hendrick 1-2-3 finish at Vegas” Motorsport US, 6 Mar. 2023, https://us.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/byron-wins-vegas-hendrick-larson-bowman/10440400

1. “Byron leads 176 laps en route to Hendrick domination at Las Vegas” RACER, 6 Mar. 2023, https://racer.com/2023/03/05/byron-leads-176-laps-en-route-to-hendrick-domination-at-las-vegas/

2. “Byron caps dominant run with thrilling overtime victory at Las Vegas” SpeedwayMedia.com, 6 Mar. 2023, https://speedwaymedia.com/2023/03/05/__trashed-6

3. “CHEVROLET NCS: Byron Delivers Chevrolet's Third Consecutive NCS Win at Las Vegas” Speedway Digest – Home for NASCAR News, 6 Mar. 2023, https://speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/75850-chevrolet-ncs-byron-delivers-chevrolet-s-third-consecutive-ncs-win-at-las-vegas

4. “William Byron wins NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway” NASCAR on NBC Sports, 5 Mar. 2023, https://nascar.nbcsports.com/2023/03/05/william-byron-wins-nascar-cup-series-race-at-las-vegas-motor-speedway/

5. “2023 NASCAR Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas – Full Race Results” Crash, 6 Mar. 2023, https://www.crash.net/nascar/results/1021723/1/2023-nascar-pennzoil-400-las-vegas-full-race-results

6. “NASCAR at Las Vegas results: William Byron sweeps stages, nabs checkered flag in OT of Pennzoil 400” Sporting News, 5 Mar. 2023, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nascar/news/pennzoil-400-live-updates-results-highlights/pc8hu5l09v1e1tsytmii0hfs

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 0 comments