Four wins in 11 starts. That’s what 18-year-old William Byron’s NASCAR career looks like.
William Byron took his fourth win of the season in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway after dominating the second half of the race. Byron led 70 of 150 laps en route to his win.
The night appeared to be going the way of Byron’s Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate Daniel Suarez early on. Suarez started on pole alongside Matt Tifft fill-in, Brett Moffitt. Suarez led the first 59 laps of the night before a pit strategy call to take four tires relegated him deep in the field. Suarez was never able to regain his track position, and even had to serve a pit road speeding penalty late in the race. He went on to finish the race in a disappointing 11th.
Entering the race as an early favorite to win, Brett Moffitt ran inside the top-five until his night went up in smoke. Just 26 laps into the 150 lap race, Moffitt blew an engine. It was a tough ending to Moffitt’s first race since his 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie campaign ended at Homestead last year. Moffitt finished 31st.
It was hard to bet against Kyle Busch going into the night’s race. Last year’s Sprint Cup champion won earlier this season at Martinsville, and was looking to score his second win, but Busch never had the track position to contend for the win after qualifying sixth. The night for Busch went from bad to worse when he was sent to the back of the pack after having too many men over the wall on a pit stop under caution. Busch found himself racing with drivers he’s not used to being back with, and ended up being wrecked by Spencer Gallagher on Lap 56. Busch finished 30th, and had some choice words for Gallagher after a trip to the infield care center.
“Now I know how John Wes Townley feels,” Busch said, referring to an incident between Gallagher and Townley at Gateway Motorsports Park.
The night wasn’t all bad for Busch as he was able to celebrate his organization’s 51st series win, making Kyle Busch Motorsports the most-winning team in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history.
“I can’t say enough about this organization,” Byron said in victory lane. “It’s so awesome to have Kyle (Busch, owner) and Samantha’s support, Toyota’s support with great Toyota Tundras and great JGR Engines (Joe Gibbs Racing) tonight. It’s a dream come true to get a win like this. It just keeps going, I have a great team behind me. I have to thank Liberty University and everyone that puts it together.”
John Hunter Nemechek came up on spot short for the second time of the season. Nemechek won at Atlanta in February, but came to the Bluegrass State seeking his second win, but will have to settle for runner-up after starting in 16th. Nemechek and crew chief Gere Kennon elected to take four tires on the final stop, and in the final 40 laps, it took the youngster from seventh to second, but it wasn’t quite enough to get him in victory lane.
Daniel Hemric finishes third for the second race in a row after a strong showing at Kentucky. He was hounding down on Byron for his first career win during the closing stages, but after the handling appeared to suffer at the end of the race, he was forced to fight with Nemechek for second, a battle he would lose.
Gateway winner Christopher Bell would finish fourth with Johnny Sauter behind in fifth.
Rounding out the top-10 were Cameron Hayley, Brandon Jones, Matt Crafton, Timothy Peters and Tyler Reddick. The seventh-place run was Jones’ first top-10 finish in a part-time effort.
With Byron’s fourth win of the season, NASCAR confirmed he is officially locked into the eight-man Chase, so long as he continues to run every race until the playoffs begin. With one spot officially taken up, only seven remain. Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Johnny Sauter and Christopher Bell each have one win, which presumably puts them in a comfortable position, so it’ll be a fight up until New Hampshire in September to see who takes the remaining spots.