NASCAR: Byron wins rain-shortened Quaker State 400 at Atlanta

Neither an early spin nor damage to his No. 24 Chevrolet could prevent William Byron from winning Sunday night’s rain-shortened Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

With a storm approaching the 1.54-mile track, Byron surged past AJ Allmendinger into the lead on Lap 167 and remained out front until an accident in Turn 3 involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace caused the seventh caution of the evening on Lap 178.

With Byron out front, the NASCAR Cup Series cars circled the track until the rain arrived and began falling more heavily. NASCAR brought the cars to pit road and red-flagged the race at 9:47 p.m. after 185 of a scheduled 260 laps were complete.

With severe weather moving into the area, the sanctioning body called the race and made Byron the first four-time winner in the series this season. The victory was Byron’s second at Atlanta and the eighth of his career.

Daniel Suárez was second when NASCAR called the race, with Allmendinger running third. Michael McDowell and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

Crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road on Lap 125 under caution for a pileup in Turn 2 that damaged the cars of Erik Jones, Ross Chastain, Corey LaJoie, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs.

William Byron found his way back to the front after an early spin…

When the rain came, he was the leader and is now the WINNER. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/JWAYljehhn

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 10, 2023

That enabled Byron to restart fourth on Lap 165 after roughly half the field (cars that had not pitted since Lap 95) came to pit road on Lap 161. Two laps later, Byron had the lead.

Byron hardly looked like a winner after spinning through the grass on Lap 80 and losing a lap getting to pit road. But the 25-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, regained the lost circuit as the beneficiary under caution for Kyle Larson’s spin on Lap 92.

“It’s cool, man,” Byron said. “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, but Rudy made a good call to pit there and then stay out.

“Once we got towards the front, it was OK. We could make the right decisions, block OK, and I got the lead from AJ and was able to manage the run. Just a crazy night.”

The race was a boon not only for Byron, who leads the playoff standings, but for winless drivers around the playoff bubble. First, there was no new winner in the series to reduce the number of spots available on points.

Moreover, Suárez, Allmendinger and McDowell improved their chances with top-five finishes. Those three drivers all gained ground on Chase Elliott, who is trying to qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs despite missing seven of the 19 races this season.

Elliott wasn’t a factor on Sunday night, failing to earn any stage points and finishing 13th.

Despite his early struggles, Byron was pleased that handling played such an important part in the racing on the recently repaved racing surface.

“It was awesome – that’s all you can ask for on a superspeedway,” Byron said. “We want handling to matter. We want to be able to drive the things. I felt like the first stage was really fun. I was able to make some moves on the bottom.

“And you’re lifting every corner, so it’s different than a 550 (horsepower) old-style race. It’s more packed up, but still handling matters, and guys can make aggressive moves… I’m thankful for the whole team and just staying in it, ’cause we were a lap down, and it could have been over.”

The race started with team owner Richard Childress driving pace laps in the No. 29 Chevrolet that launched Kevin Harvick’s career with an Atlanta win after Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001. It wasn’t Harvick’s night, however. After a late spin, he finished 30th in his final run at Atlanta. Harvick is retiring from Cup racing at the end of the season.

Winner Quotes

Q. I don’t even know where to start with your day. You said it was so much fun early on, then the penalty on pit road, then the spin. How did you come back and make this happen?

WILLIAM BYRON: Just teamwork. Honestly I don’t completely understand this one. It’s a really good feeling. I’ve never had a rain victory like this. But just thanks to AXALTA Chevrolet. It’s cool.

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.

Rudy 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 AJ and just was able to manage the run.

Just a crazy night.

Q. The guys in the booth were saying some of the most amazing racing they have seen. Behind the wheel, how was the racing tonight?

WILLIAM BYRON: It was awesome. I think that’s all you can ask for on a superspeedway. We want handling to matter. We want to be able to drive the things.

I felt like the first stage was really fun. I was able to make some moves on the bottom, and you’re lifting every corner, so it’s really — it’s different than a 550 old style race, but it’s more packed up, but it’s still handling matters and guys can make aggressive moves.

I was certainly edgy back in traffic, but Rudy made, like I said, a good call, and we got it towards the front, and sometimes that’s what it takes. Just thankful for the whole team and just staying in it because we were a lap down and it could have been over.

Q. You and I talked a few weeks ago and you said all the success early in the year, the summer is very important to us. We need to show up. We need to be able to win races. How significant for the 24 team and this championship hopeful run that you are going to go on here to get a win here in the summer?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, it’s really important. We’re just keeping our heads in it. Over the last few weeks, we’d finish in the top 15 when we don’t have good cars, and the days we have really good cars we finish in the top 5.

It’s just a matter of staying with it, and today was definitely a lucky break. I can’t overstate that. We were in the lead, but certainly a lot of laps to go.

But just thankful for a good team to make good decisions, and like I said, to stay in the race when it’s easy to kind of give up and pack it in.

Race Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	BEHIND	LAPS
1	24	William Byron		—	185
2	99	Daniel Suarez		1.015	185
3	16	AJ Allmendinger		1.523	185
4	34	Michael McDowell		1.892	185
5	8	Kyle Busch		2.198	185
6	6	Brad Keselowski		3.419	185
7	15	JJ Yeley(i)		3.730	185
8	31	Justin Haley		4.083	185
9	12	Ryan Blaney		4.084	185
10	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		5.510	185
11	43	Erik Jones		6.052	185
12	2	Austin Cindric		6.709	185
13	9	Chase Elliott		6.710	185
14	11	Denny Hamlin		6.711	185
15	17	Chris Buescher		6.712	185
16	38	Todd Gilliland		8.042	185
17	22	Joey Logano		9.226	185
18	10	Aric Almirola		9.705	185
19	77	Ty Dillon		10.455	185
20	78	BJ McLeod		10.456	185
21	3	Austin Dillon		11.018	185
22	14	Chase Briscoe		12.288	185
23	20	Christopher Bell		13.218	185
24	41	Ryan Preece		13.632	185
25	23	Bubba Wallace		14.316	185
26	48	Alex Bowman		18.194	185
27	45	Tyler Reddick		21.218	185
28	21	Harrison Burton		-1	184
29	19	Martin Truex Jr.		-1	184
30	4	Kevin Harvick		-4	181
31	7	Corey LaJoie		-6	179
32	51	Cole Custer(i)		-7	178
33	42	Noah Gragson #		-11	174
34	54	Ty Gibbs #		-35	150
35	1	Ross Chastain		-61	124
36	5	Kyle Larson		-74	111
37	62	* Austin Hill(i)		-93	92

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(i) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME