Byron Wins in Homestead

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

William Byron won the Dixie Vodka 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to pick up his first victory of the season.

Byron led over 100 laps on Sunday, and he was able to pull away from Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. over the final run to claim his second-career victory.

Byron said his team worked hard in the offseason to make their cars faster at Homestead.

“We worked hard in the winter on this track,” Byron said.  “This car was just awesome.  I think we went to the sim four or five times this offseason, and it just pays off.”

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Byron picked up the victory in just his third start with new crew chief Rudy Fugle.  Fugle had been a crew chief for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series, and led Byron to seven victories in 2016.

“That guy has been huge for my career,” Byron said.  “He’s the reason I’m here and I’m glad I could get him.  He’s just awesome and this whole team did a phenomenal job.”

Tyler Reddick finished second after charging through the field on the high side over the final run.  Reddick had the fastest car in the closing laps, but didn’t have enough time to chase down Byron to fight for the win.

Reddick said he was disappointed to finish second with such a fast car.

“Second place is a good night considering how the first few weekends have went,” Reddick said.  “Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air at the end there and I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating.”

“Just two or three decisions on a restart would have put me miles ahead, and I would have been within reach.”

Unofficial results:

1. William Byron

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Kyle Larson

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Michael McDowell

7. Ryan Newman

8. Kurt Busch

9. Alex Bowman

10. Kyle Busch

11. Denny Hamlin

12. Austin Dillon

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Chase Elliott

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Brad Keselowski

17. Ross Chastain

18. Chase Briscoe

19. Chris Buescher

20. Christopher Bell

21. Ryan Preece

22. Bubba Wallace

23. Cole Custer

24. Anthony Alfredo

25. Joey Logano

26. Justin Haley

27. Erik Jones

28. Matt DiBenedetto

29. Ryan Blaney

30. Aric Almirola

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Cody Ware

33. Josh Bilicki

34. BJ McLeod

35. Quin Houff

36. Corey LaJoie

37. James Davison

38. Timmy Hill

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Christopher Bell Picks Up First Victory in Wild Daytona Road Course Race

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Christopher Bell picked up his first career victory in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 from the Daytona International Speedway Road Course on Sunday afternoon.

Bell erased Joey Logano’s three-second lead in the closing laps and was able to make the winning pass in the chicane coming to the white flag.  Bell pulled away over the final lap, and he picked up his first victory in just his second start with Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Bell pitted for tires under one of the final cautions, and he said that’s what made the difference in the race against Logano.

“Whenever we pitted and I came out, I liked where I lined up,” Bell said.  “Honestly didn’t think I was going to get there.  [Logano] really struggled coming out of Turn 6 one time and it allowed me to close the gap.”

Bell’s first victory followed Michael McDowell’s first victory in last weekend’s Daytona 500.  It is just the third time in NASCAR history that two first-time winners opened up the season, and the first since 1950.

Bell said this victory was at the end of a very long road to NASCAR’s top series.

“I’ve prepared my whole life to race in the Cup Series,” Bell said.  “I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to run in Cup.  This is definitely one of the highlights of my life so far.”

Logano said he had too many laps to run on old tires to make their strategy work.

“One more caution lap would have been enough to at least have a door-to-door finish across the line,” Logano said.  “[Bell’s] the one that got through with tires.  It’s hard when he’s catching you a second a lap.”

Unofficial results:

1. Christopher Bell

2. Joey Logano

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Kurt Busch

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Kevin Harvick

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Michael McDowell

9. Ryan Preece

10. Alex Bowman

11. Chris Buescher

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Cole Custer

14. Erik Jones

15. Ryan Blaney

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Aric Almirola

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Ty Dillon

20. Ryan Newman

21. Chase Elliott

22. Anthony Alfredo

23. James Davison

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

24. Justin Haley

25. Cody Ware

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Garrett Smithley

28. Scott Heckert

29. Timmy Hill

30. Kyle Larson

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Chase Briscoe

33. William Byron

34. Austin Dillon

35. Kyle Busch

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Matt DiBenedetto

38. Tyler Reddick

39. Ross Chastain

40. Quin Houff

McDowell Surprises with Daytona 500 Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 from the Daytona International Speedway on Sunday night.

McDowell was running third headed down the backstretch while he pushed Brad Keselowski to the front. After Keselowski made contact with leader Joey Logano, McDowell was able to sneak past as a massive crash erupted in the pack.

McDowell was ahead of Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon at the time of the caution, which officially froze the field and awarded McDowell his first career victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.

McDowell said he was excited to pick up his first victory after 14 years in the Cup Series.

“Just can’t believe it,” McDowell said.  “So many years just grinding it out for an opportunity like this.  Such a great way to get a first victory."

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

With the laps winding down, a group of Ford drivers led the field.  Logano, Kevin Harvick, Keselowski and McDowell ran single-file until the final lap.  McDowell said the manufacturer teamwork helped give them all a chance at the victory.

“We had our Ford partners at the end and they all crashed; luckily I was able to make it through,” McDowell said. 

Elliott was second at the moment of the caution, and he said he knew he came up short when he saw the caution lights come on.

“I don’t think it was very close,” Elliott said.  “Got next to him and saw the lights come on, so I knew it was over right there.”

Elliott, who began his championship defense on Sunday, said he was just excited to finish NASCAR biggest event after having bad luck in years past.

“Staying out of trouble…that’s not something I’ve done a very good job of here in this race,” Elliott said.  “We finished one, so I’m pretty pleased with that.”

Unofficial results:

1. Michael McDowell

2. Chase Elliott

3. Austin Dillon

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Ryan Preece

7. Ross Chastain

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Corey LaJoie

10. Kyle Larson

11. Cole Custer

12. Joey Logano

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Kyle Busch

15. Austin Cindric

16. Christopher Bell

17. Bubba Wallace

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Chase Briscoe

20. Joey Gase

21. Cody Ware

22. Kurt Busch

23. BJ McLeod

24. Josh Bilicki

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. William Byron

27. Tyler Reddick

28. Kaz Grala

29. Quin Houff

30. Ryan Blaney

31. Chris Buescher

32. Anthony Alfredo

33. Matt DiBenedetto

34. Aric Almirola

35. Alex Bowman

36. Daniel Suarez

37. David Ragan

38. Ryan Newman

39. Erik Jones

40. Derrike Cope

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Kicks Off Season with Busch Clash Victory

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the season-opening Busch Clash from Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night to kick off the 2021 NASCAR season.

The Busch Clash, the customary non-points race that begins NASCAR’s season every year, was run on Daytona’s road course for the first time.

Busch was running a distant third when the field took the white flag, but he was able to take the lead coming out of the final corner after Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney got together racing for the win. 

Busch, in his first race with a new crew chief after a single-win season in 2020, said he hopes the two can continue to grow their relationship as Busch hunts for his third Cup championship.

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

“Can’t say enough about Ben Beshore and this whole M&M’s team,” Busch said.  “I’ve been through a couple crew chiefs, and it always seems to go well for a little while and then it fizzles out.”

After the COVID pandemic caused NASCAR to change the 2020 schedule multiple times, NASCAR raced on the Daytona road course for the first time last August.  Now officially the second race of the season, Busch said his team looked at this as a test session for the points-paying event in two weeks.

“We had a great car here tonight,” Busch said.  “We worked a lot over the winter time and focusing on what we can do in this race to know what we needed to get better for race number two, coming up in two weeks.”

Elliott and Blaney, known as two of the closest friends in the garage, had fast cars throughout the night but got together racing for the lead in the final chicane coming to the checkered flag.

Elliott said it was a move he had to try with a win in sight.

“I can’t be sorry for going for the win, but certainly didn’t mean to wreck him,” Elliott said.  “Neither one of us won; that’s the big thing.  You’ve got to go for it here in an event like this.”

Blaney, who had fresher tires over the final run, said he had to use up more of his car than he’d hoped while he chased Elliott down in the final laps.

“We were just racing hard and I had a little bit fresher tires there,” Blaney said.  “I tried to protect and drove in the last corner really deep to try to make sure I didn’t get dive-bombed like that.  Learned something for next week…and excited to get to the [Daytona] 500 this Sunday.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Elliott

3. Joey Logano

4. Tyler Reddick

5. William Byron

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Alex Bowman

8. Erik Jones

9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Austin Dillon

12. Aric Almirola

13. Ryan Blaney

14. Ryan Newman

15. Kevin Harvick

16. Chris Buescher

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Ty Dillon

19. Kurt Busch

20. Cole Custer

21. Martin Truex Jr.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images