Originally written for CLNS Media.
William Byron won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona
International Speedway on Saturday night during the regular season finale.
Byron came into the weekend needing a strong finish as he was on the bubble with Matt DiBenedetto and Jimmie Johnson for the final two spots in the Playoffs. After Johnson was caught up in a late wreck, Byron and DiBenedetto were all but locked in, allowing Byron to focus on the winning moves needed at the end of the race.
Byron found his way to the lead on the final restart, and
his teammate Chase Elliott was able to push Byron to the victory and into the
Playoffs.
Byron said he was focused on points throughout the
race after struggling to pick up stage points early.
“Probably the hardest track to points race,” Byron
said. “We didn’t have a great Stage 2,
kind of got back in the pack and got shuffled when everyone went single-file.”
Byron used a late push from Bubba Wallace to get to
the front right as Joey Logano got sideways, sparking the accident that
collected Johnson.
Byron said he was going for his first career win and a
Playoff berth no matter what.
“[Logano and Wallace] made some contact and opened up
a hole for me,” Byron said. “I wasn’t
going to lift. It’s awesome.”
DiBenedetto was the final driver to transfer into the
Playoffs, and beat Johnson by six points for the final spot.
DiBenedetto said he was excited to move on and have a
shot at the Cup Series Championship.
“We made it, I don’t care how we did it,” DiBenedetto
said. “My goal was to come in here and
make it and we had some pretty good competitors, obviously.”
“We’ll celebrate tomorrow and have a good day, then it’s
going to be time to get to work.”
DiBenedetto, in his first season with Wood Brothers
Racing, said his previous seasons of driving for under-funded teams helped
prepare him for the pressure this weekend.
“That was the most stressful situation inside a race
car I’ve ever been in my life, hands down,” DiBenedetto said. “I was calm going into the week, and I really
think I have to thank my career path for kind of grooming me for this type of
situation.”
“It’s been a tough fight, and it makes me so
appreciative of these situations.”
Johnson’s team was able to get his car back on track
following his accident, but he fell six points shy of making the Playoffs in
his final season.
Johnson said the focus now turns trying to get one
final win in the 10 remaining races.
“There’s 10 races left; 10 races to go chase and we’ll
have to focus our efforts there,” Johnson said. “Last three years have been tough, we all know
that. I think we’ve shown some bright
spots…Cliff Daniels and these guys on this team have poured their guts out for
me.”
“We did all that we could this year; I am so thankful
for Hendrick Motorsports and the career that I’ve had here. I’m not going to dwell on it too much, I don’t
know what I could have done differently.”
Unofficial results:
1. William Byron
2. Chase Elliott
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Alex Bowman
8. Brendan Gaughan
9. Chris Buescher
10. Brad Keselowski
11. John Hunter Nemechek
12. Matt DiBenedetto
13. Christopher Bell
14. Michael McDowell
15. Brennan Poole
16. Ross Chastain
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. Aric Almirola
19. Clint Bowyer
20. Kevin Harvick
21. Corey LaJoie
22. Ty Dillon
23. Quin Houff
24. Timmy Hill
25. Austin Dillon
26. Daniel Suarez
27. Joey Logano
28. Matt Kenseth
29. Tyler Reddick
30. Cole Custer
31. Joey Gase
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Kyle Busch
34. Kurt Busch
35. Erik Jones
37. Ryan Preece
38. Josh Bilicki
39. James Davison
40. JJ Yeley
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