William Byron wins United Rentals Work United 500 in Phoenix
It was a classic case of deja vu in the desert after Hendrick Motorsports continued to assert their dominance over the competition and William Byron pulled off back-to-back victories to close out NASCAR’s West Coast tour at Phoenix Raceway.
Byron took the green flag from third in the United Rentals Work United 500 and set the tone early on for what would be an afternoon onslaught for the premier series powerhouse by leading 58-of-60 laps in route to a Stage One win.
While he couldn't quite sweep both segments like last weekend in Las Vegas, the driver of the No. 24 ended up with 19 stage points, 64 laps led and kept Chevrolet undefeated in the NASCAR Cup Series this season following a gutsy overtime win.
When the 25-year-old exited his Valvoline-sponsored Camaro ZL1, he attributed his second-straight victory to crew chief Rudy Fugle for leading the charge and his team.
“I owe the last couple weeks to him,” Byron said. “He's done a really good job strategy-wise and execution-wise. We've done a good job to put ourselves in those positions on the front row with a shot at the end. Thanks to everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports, putting together great cars, doing a great job. This is a big credit to them.”
Although Byron rightfully stole all the glory, it was his teammate Kyle Larson who did a bulk of the heavy lifting throughout the weekend. The new Scottsdale resident clearly made himself at home after owning the speed charts in practice and qualifying, which also extended to the main event.
Larson wound up dominating by leading 201 laps and winning Stage Two, only to end up fourth due to failure to execute on the final restart. But that’s not to say he didn’t have a shot.
While his on-track stats speak for themselves, Larson’s success can largely be measured by the excellence of his No. 5 team on pit road. Their ability to execute — much like that fateful day at Phoenix in 2021 which crowned him champion — coupled with owning the preferred stall exiting the pits, is what kept him in the race.
Following the final set of pit stops, Larson appeared to be in prime position to score his first win after a blistering-fast two-tire stop saw him fire off pit road first. Unfortunately, he was unable to handle a push from runner-up Ryan Blaney into Turn 1 to overtake his teammate for the win.
“(The) team made a great call to take two (tires) and get us out in the lead,” Larson said. “Yeah, I'm pissed off. Restarts are just tough. Great fight by the team, great car, way better than we were here last year.
“It's a long season, but hopefully we're in the Final 4 when we come back here in November and can have a run similar to that with speed and try to execute a little bit better at the end.”
In the end it was an almost-perfect day for HMS, who combined for 265 laps led (83%) in Phoenix and saw all four teams place top-10 when the checkered-flag waved.
NASCAR Xfinity Series regular and 32-year-old Josh Berry was the feel-good story of the day after finishing 10th in just his second start driving the No. 9 car for Chase Elliott, who was unable to compete due to a fractured tibia.
A great organizational day also meant Arizona-born Alex Bowman tallied his fourth-straight top-10 of the season – the most of any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series – by placing ninth at his first at his home track since 2016.
“I gotta figure out how to get better here,” Bowman said. “I think our car was stronger than that when you look at our teammates. Fundamentally, I’ve got something messed up here. Just gotta keep working on it. I’m proud of my guys and good points day.”
Although no one could’ve predicted the mayhem that unfolded in overtime, Larson called his shot — successfully — on who he thought would contend for the win during his pole-winning press conference on Saturday: himself, Byron and Kevin Harvick.
By all accounts, these were the best drivers all day, and it actually looked like the “King of Phoenix” was going to ride off into the sunset and score his 10th victory at the one-mile track.
Harvick ran a calculated race and grabbed the lead from Larson with 43 to go courtesy of short-pitting during green-flag stops. However, pit road proved to be his best friend and worst enemy.
When the caution flew with 10 to go, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver entered pit road as the leader, but opted for four fresh tires seeing as how important handling was. This set him back to seventh on the final restart, as the cars in front of him only took two tires for track position.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time for Havick to optimize his four-fresh Goodyears and he had to settle for his 20th consecutive top-10 finish and a fifth-place outing.
“I'd always rather be on offense,” Harvick said.” I just didn't get a couple cars when that first caution came out. Still thought I had a chance there at the end. That's the way it goes. (We) smoked 'em up until the caution.”
High-schooler Sammy Smith wins Xfinity race
Sammy Smith won the Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, the first victory for the 18-year-old high school student who is taking classes online so he can be a full-time driver.
Making his 13th start in the last two years for Joe Gibbs Racing, Smith led the final 52 laps and held off Cup Series star Kyle Busch on two restarts to take the checkered flag for the first time in a NASCAR national series event.
“It's amazing. It's a dream come true,” Smith said. “It's awesome.”
Ryan Truex finished second, followed by Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Chandler Smith. Busch was second following a final restart with 15 laps to go, but made contact with Chandler Smith on the final lap and ended up ninth.
Sammy Smith put JGR in victory lane in Phoenix for the 16th time in the second-tier series and for the sixth consecutive year — with six different drivers. Christopher Bell (2018), Busch (2019), Brandon Jones (2020), Daniel Hemric (2021) and Ty Gibbs (2022) previously celebrated at the mile-long track in Avondale.
Smith also became the youngest Xfinity Series winner at Phoenix. He did so with seemingly relative ease, leading 92 of 200 laps in the United Rentals 200 and not facing any significant challenges down the stretch.
—Associated Press
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: William Byron wins United Rentals Work United 500 in Phoenix
