NEWTON, Iowa — William Byron was already locked into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and was second in the regular-season point standings heading into Sunday\u2019s race at Iowa Speedway.<\/p>\n
Still, Byron didn\u2019t like how things were going heading into the closing stretch of the regular season.<\/p>\n
Byron had five finishes of 27th or worse in the last eight races, and coming to a track where he has had success in the past, he wanted to regain some confidence with the playoffs approaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve been fast every weekend,\u201d Byron said. \u201cI mean, I can\u2019t think of a week when we\u2019ve been slow, it\u2019s just the results haven\u2019t come together. And it was starting to wear on us a little bit and starting to create some kind of, \u2018What\u2019s going to happen next?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
What happened next, though, was Byron getting his second win of the season on Sunday, gambling on fuel mileage for a win that he thought had changed the momentum of his season.<\/p>\n
Byron went the last 144 laps of the 350-lap race without a stop, and a third stage filled with caution flags helped him conserve enough fuel to get to the finish.<\/p>\n
He left Iowa Speedway, where he has now won in all three of NASCAR\u2019s series, with an 18-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott for the regular-season title.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to kind of put the pendulum the other way,\u201d Byron said.<\/p>\n
Byron won the season-opening Daytona 500, and has eight top-10 finishes this season, including three second-place finishes. But he had a 37th-place finish at Atlanta, a 40th-place finish at the Chicago street race, and 31st-place finish at Dover. He was 16th last week at Indianapolis, when he had to make a late pit stop for fuel.<\/p>\n
Surviving to win this one is something that crew chief Rudy Fugle expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an awesome driver,\u201d Fugle said. \u201cI think he\u2019s the best driver, all-around, in the field right now. He\u2019s mine, and I should say that. But I really think he\u2019s maturing and getting the experience to show that off. He\u2019s very well-diversified, and then he\u2019s a fighter. He\u2019s got a hard line and fights through anything. There\u2019s no quit in him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byron had fuel-mileage issues late at Michigan, and again last week at Indianapolis. Even with that, Fugle knew he could still gamble with his driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are things that he\u2019s gotten better as well over the years, rolling with the punches and what happens next,\u201d Fugle said. \u201cAnd next thing you know, you\u2019re leading and you get a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byron admitted he was nervous as the laps dwindled on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew what to expect,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew what to look for, and all that in terms of if I ran out of fuel. But I was just thinking about preserving as much as I could, doing a lot of different things in the car, lifting early and just not using a lot of throttle percentage. So just the guys did a really good job coaching me on what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byron thought there was a little fuel left in the tank at the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like if I could get off of (turn) four, come into the white (flag), I could win the race,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s kind of what was in my head. And that was mostly true. When I did the burnout, at the tail end of the burnout, I had the fuel pressure come up. So I don\u2019t know how many laps that would have been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Byron said, he has new fuel to get to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like we needed to win a race like this, we deserve to win a race based on how we\u2019ve grown all year, and it just wasn\u2019t happening,\u201d Byron said. \u201cIt\u2019s is just a big relief for us to have one kind of go our way. We\u2019ve just been running so well this year, I feel like this is going to be a big momentum boost for our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
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