William Byron falls short in bid for perfect race at Darlington

For a while, it seemed as if William Byron was going to run the equivalent of a perfect race at Darlington Raceway Sunday.

Starting from the pole, Byron led the first 243 laps en route to a sweep of the first two stages.

“I felt like we were in position to have a perfect race there,” Byron said. “That would have been pretty damn impressive.”

Byron also picked up an additional point for posting the fastest lap of the race on lap 297.

However, a green flag cycle of pit stops enabled Tyler Reddick to charge to the lead, and despite a late-race caution that sent the race to overtime and a chance to gain spots through pit stops, Byron settled for second.

” It sucks, but nobody is at fault,” Byron said. “Those guys could be aggressive on the other side of us and it was turning into a big strategy play. We just couldn’t keep control.”

Byron, who picked up his second runner-up finish of the season, said the loss stings.

 “We had a great pit stop there at the end and was able to line up on the second row,” Byron said. “We just needed the front row to have a shot to win here.

“It stings to be this close, but at the same time, I’m really proud of that effort by the whole team. It shows what we’re really made of, and hopefully there’s a lot more of that to come.”

Byron increased his points lead from 16 to second-place Denny Hamlin with a 49-point advantage.

The next race for the series is scheduled for Sunday, April 13 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Byron’s highest finish in the Cup Series at the Tennessee track is third-place (twice).