NASCAR EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix : William Byron Takes the Victory

William Byron, driver for Hendrick Motorsports, secured a NASCAR Cup Series victory after starting in pole position at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.

This victory marked the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s No. 12 career win, his second win on a road course, and the team’s 28th win on NASCAR road courses.

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Initially leading 23 laps, Byron dropped to third while Ross Chastain of Trackhouse Racing took the lead. After both Byron and Chastain pitted, Byron battled it out and passed Chastain, took the lead, and built a three second gap.

Byron led 42 of 68 laps and was able to hold off Christopher Bell from Joe Gibbs Racing during the final two laps. Bell also put on an impressive race after having made up four positions and shrinking his gap to Byron to 0.692 seconds.

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Bell said of his result, “Another lap I would have gotten there for sure. Passing would have been difficult. I needed him to make a mistake and he didn’t make a mistake.” Race winner Byron said in a post-race interview, “ I feel like I made a lot of mistakes in the last 10 laps, just micro errors and Christopher (Bell) was really fast there on the longer run.”

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Richmond Raceway in Virginia for the ToyotaCare 250 next Sunday.