William Byron only driver locked into Round of 8
When the NASCAR Cup Series races at the Charlotte Road Course on Sunday, only William Byron will be guaranteed to advance to the Round of 8 among the playoff competition.
By earning a third-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway, Byron finished the YellaWood 500 with a 74-point cushion over ninth-place Joey Logano. The most points a driver can make up in one race, with the exception of the Coca-Cola 600, is 59 points.
“I felt like it all worked out,” Byron said of pushing race-winner Ricky Stenhouse on the final lap in NASCAR Overtime. “I’m happy for Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) and everyone at Chevrolet. They deserve it. Ricky is a really good drafter.”
Byron’s lock to the Round of 8 marks the third straight year the Hendrick Motorsports driver will race as a championship-eligible driver.
The Cup Series will race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 20), Homestead-Miami Speedway (Oct. 27), and Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3) in the Round of 8 — all tracks Byron has won at.
Byron opened the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the Daytona 500, and then posting victories at Austin and Martinsville in the spring.
Byron’s last victory came 23 races ago om April at Martinsville, but has posted seven Top-5 finishes including three runner-up results.
Playoff cutline entering Charlotte
William Byron ADVANCED
Christopher Bell +57
Kyle Larson +52
Denny Hamlin +30
Alex Bowman +26
Ryan Blaney +25
Tyler Reddick +14
Chase Elliott +13
—
Joey Logano -13
Daniel Suarez -20
Austin Cindric -29
Chase Briscoe -32
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.