William Byron Wins Phoenix Cup Race in Overtime

Meg Oliphant - Getty Images

AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – William Byron had followed teammate Kyle Larson all day, but in the overtime two laps, nicked Larson and won his second straight NASCAR Cup race-over Larson ion Sunday. Byron dominated stage one to claim a playoff point, but had faded to fourth with 73 laps to go. However, a late race caution due to Harrison Burton‘s spin put the cars on pit road with eight laps to go. Kevin Harvick came in the leader and left in seventh after taking four tires. Byron took two tires and was able to get by Larson, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick to take the lead on the final lap.

Larson had been dominant from stage two forward, winning that stage and was leading with 43 to go. That’s when Harvick made his move. It’s a heartbreaker for Harvick, who was looking for his 10th win at the track in the desert.

Blaney scored his best finish of the season, finishing second. Reddick rebounded nicely on four fresh tires to finish third. Larson and Harvick rounded out the top five. Several drivers changed just two tires on the ensuing pit stop, but Harvick took four, falling back to seventh place for the restart with three laps left. He finished fifth.

“If I had been making that decision, I would have done the same thing,” Harvick said after the race.

The race was the debut of a new short track aero package that took away 30% of the downforce on Cup Series  cars. The package seemed to improve racing quality throughout the day, as drivers had difficulty passing and were sliding around all day long. That resulted in long laps of the same car leading.

Larson — whose No. 5 Chevrolet was the fastest during Friday’s practice and also during Saturday’s qualifying — was fading after Harvick’s pass, but the late yellow flags gave him a chance until Byron’s late push. Larson finished fourth.

Byron and Larson had the fastest cars for most of the race. It continued a dominant stretch by the two Hendrick drivers, who were 1-2 for much of the Las Vegas race.  Byron won the first stage, leading 59 of the first 60 laps. Larson won the second stage.

Harvick’s attempt at a 10th win at Phoenix understandably attracted the most attention, but the race was also his 20th straight top 10 finish at the track. That streak dates back to 2013 and is the most top 10s in a row at one track in Cup history.

Phoenix concludes the early season West Coast swing, leading up to next weekend’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 19. Byron is the defending spring race winner and inaugural winner on the reconfigured and repaved Atlanta layout.

Unofficial Results: United Rentals Work United 500, March 12, 2023, Phoenix Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps , St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 3, William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 317, 1, 2, 2, 64, 6, 59, Running
2) 8, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford, 317, 6, 8, , , , 43, Running
3) 12, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota, 317, 5, 5, , , , 46, Running
4) 1, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 317, 2, 1, 5, 201, 1, 52, Running
5) 15, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 317, 8, 3, 1, 36, , 43, Running
6) 5, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 317, 3, 7, , , , 43, Running
7) 24, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 317, , 10, , , , 31, Running
8) 9, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, 317, 10, , , , , 30, Running
9) 18, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Best Friends Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 17, Josh Berry(i), No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 0, Running
11) 16, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 317, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 25, Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford, 317, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 7, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 317, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 19, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 317, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 21, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Socios Ford, 317, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 30, Austin Dillon, No. 3 BetMGM March Matchups Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 13, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 317, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 4, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Edge Ford, 317, 9, 4, 1, 1, , 28, Running
19) 23, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Thomas' Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 22, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 10, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet, 317, , , 1, 14, , 16, Running
22) 11, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 317, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 2, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Shingrix Toyota, 317, 4, 6, , , , 26, Running
24) 6, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet, 317, 7, 9, 1, 1, , 19, Running
25) 20, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 316, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 28, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 EnviroXstream Chevrolet, 316, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 26, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 316, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 14, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 316, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 32, Noah Gragson #, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet, 316, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 35, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Mutoh Chevrolet, 315, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 34, Zane Smith(i), No. 38 Wellcare Ford, 315, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 29, Todd Gilliland, No. 15 OTR Mobile Ford, 314, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 31, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Go Bowling Ford, 313, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 36, Cody Ware, No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co Ford, 311, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 27, Harrison Burton, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 310, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 33, BJ McLeod, No. 78 Superior Logistics Services Chevrolet, 50, , , , , , 1, Fuel Pump
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length: 317 Laps, 317. Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 0 Mins, 18 Secs.
Average Speed: 105.491 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.330 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 5, 20, 11, 45, 12, 1, 4, 6, 8
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 24, 4, 6, 45, 11, 20, 12, 1, 14

Comments: William Byron won the United Rentals Work United 500, his sixth NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following car dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: No. 38 (unapproved adjustments).

Cautions: 5 for 35 laps;
Laps: 62-68 (Stage 1 Conclusion [22]);
139-146 (No. 10 Incident Turn 4 [54]);
187-194 (Stage 2 Conclusion [3]);
303-309 (No. 21 Spin Frontstretch [3]);
311-315 (No. 16, No. 42, No. 54 Incident Turn 2 [99]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers;
K. Larson 1;
W. Byron 2-63;
K. Larson 64-118;
R. Chastain 119;
B. Keselowski 120;
K. Larson 121-246;
E. Jones 247-260;
K. Larson 261-268;
K. Harvick 269-304;
K. Larson 305-315;
W. Byron 316-317.

Unofficial Points: United Rentals Work United 500, Phoenix Raceway
Rank    Driver  Car      Starts  GL        Points  Ldr       Nxt      Race Wins       Stage Wins     Playoff Pts
1)         Alex Bowman  48        4          1          154      0          0          0          0          0
2)         Kevin Harvick  4          4          1          151      -3         3          0          0          0
3)         Ross Chastain  1          4          -2         148      -6         3          0          3          3
4)         William Byron 24        4          9          144      -10       4          2          3          13
5)         Kyle Larson      5          4          9          137      -17       7          0          1          1
6)         Christopher Bell          20        4          1          137      -17       0          0          0          0
7)         Denny Hamlin 11        4          -1         125      -29       12        0          0          0
8)         Ryan Blaney    12        4          7          124      -30       1          0          0          0
9)         Kyle Busch       8          4          -1         122      -32       2          1          0          5
10)       Martin Truex Jr           19        4          -5         122      -32       0          0          0          0
11)       Daniel Suarez  99        4          -7         119      -35       3          0          0          0
12)       Joey Logano    22        4          -3         118      -36       1          0          0          0
13)       Brad Keselowski          6          4          -2         115      -39       3          0          1          1
14)       Chris Buescher            17        4          -4         112      -42       3          0          0          0
15)       Ricky Stenhouse Jr      47        4          -3         104      -50       8          1          0          5
16)       Bubba Wallace            23        4          0          92        -62       12        0          0          0
17)       Austin Cindric 2          4          0          81        -73       11        0          0          0
18)       Corey LaJoie    7          4          0          79        -75       2          0          0          0
19)       Michael McDowell      34        4          3          76        -78       3          0          0          0
20)       Tyler Reddick  45        4          14        72        -82       4          0          0          0
21)       AJ Allmendinger          16        4          -2         71        -83       1          0          0          0
22)       Austin Dillon   3          4          4          63        -91       8          0          0          0
23)       Ty Gibbs #       54        4          -3         62        -92       1          0          0          0
24)       Justin Haley     31        4          -1         60        -94       2          0          0          0
25)       Chase Briscoe  14        4          7          59        -95       1          0          0          0
26)       Aric Almirola   10        4          -5         56        -98       3          0          0          0
27)       Ryan Preece    41        4          4          54        -100     2          0          0          0
28)       Erik Jones        43        4          0          53        -101     1          0          0          0
29)       Chase Elliott                2          -5         49        -105     4          0          0          0
30)       Harrison Burton          21        4          -5         48        -106     1          0          0          0
31)       Todd Gilliland  15        4          -4         46        -108     2          0          0          0
32)       Noah Gragson #          42        4          -2         43        -111     3          0          0          0
33)       Cody Ware      51        4          -4         38        -116     5          0          0          0
34)       Travis Pastrana                       1          -1         26        -128     12        0          0          0
35)       BJ McLeod       78        4          0          26        -128     0          0          0          0
36)       Ty Dillon          77        4          1          17        -137     9          0          0          0
37)       Jimmie Johnson                      1          1          10        -144     7          0          0          0
38)       Josh Berry(i)    9          2          4          0          -154     10        0          0          0
39)       Riley Herbst(i)             1          0          0          -154     0          0          0          0
40)       Zane Smith(i)  38        2          0          0          -154     0          0          0          0
41)       Jj Yeley(i)                     2          -5         0          -154     0          0          0          0
42)       Conor Daly                  1          -1         0          -154     0          0          0          0
43)       Austin Hill(i)                0          0          0          -154     0          0          0          0
44)       Chandler Smith(i)                    0          0          0          -154     0          0          0          0
 -Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series