Byron Scores Second Xfinity Win in Daytona Overtime

Byron at Charlotte earlier this year

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL – JULY 1, 2017 – RIS) William Byron scored his second Xfinity Seris race in eight days by taking the checkered flag at the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 race. After three different red flags, two for weather and one for track cleanup, the race finally ended under caution for a crash back in the field just after Byron crossed the

Following a red flag lasting over 16 hours, the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race restarted. The race got halted Friday night because of rain then the restart had to be delayed thanks to a typical Florida summer rainstorm Saturday morning. Blake Koch headed the field under the green flag, flanked by Daniel Suarez in the outside row.

Koch cruised to the stage win after the first 30 laps, followed by Ben Kennedy, Brennan Poole, Daniel Hemric and Elliott Sadler.

Taking only left-side tires, Koch won the race off pit road, but Justin Allgaier, who had pitted earlier as the field started the race, led Michael Annett and Cole Custer to the green flag. Ty Dillon moved low and battled side by side with Poole, but the caution flew for weather again, with lightning in proximity to the track, after only six laps following the stage finish.

The track actually got dried, drivers were back in their cars and rain started falling again just before 3:00 pm, sending the track crews back out to dry the track again. Finally, at 3:27 Saturday afternoon, the race restarted. Several teams opted to stop for tires and William Byron took a long stop to get the front ride height adjusted, a he was hitting the splitter too hard on the track. Ty Dillon got the lead from Brennan Poole with Ben Kennedy running third and Joey Logano fourth.

Cole Custer and Erik Jones made contact exiting the fourth turn of the track, collecting several other cars, sending some into the inner wall and others into the outer wall. Jones reported that the Cole Custer car got loose and the resulting stack up caused the crash. Cole Custer, Blake Koch, Suarez, Jones, Brandon Brown and Josh Williams were all involved, leading up to the end of the second stage of the 100-laps scheduled.

Elliott Sadler made a charge to take the second stage and Byron, his handling definitely fixed by the long pit stop, swept into second place at the stage's finish.

Ty Dillon lined up at the front of the field, flanked by William Byron as the field approached the green flag to start the final stage of the race. Byron used a push from team mate Michael Annett and headed the first lap by a half lengthand dropped to the inside to block for the lead. Joey Logano made good use of the aero side draft to move up before eventually getting into the top five. Dillon retook the lead, followed by Logano, Sadler, Poole and Reddick into the top five before Jeremy Clements spun in the last turn to bring out another caution. The front runners stayed on the track

With ten aps to run, Dillon signaled for Brennan Poole to give him a push on the restart, then Logano moved into second behind Dillon and challenged on the outside, moving into the lead after a push, again from Poole but Poole got loose, taking out Dillon as well, but both continued into the pits with body damage. The incident may have started with a push by Byron as Poole jockeyed for position on the track.

Four laps were left to go on the restart with Logano inside the front row, flanked by Byron. Logano held onto the lead as Ryan Reed moved into second, then Byron moved low to challenge for the lead and Erik Jones moved outside to challenge for the lead, then Logano got loose on the back straight, drove through the grass and dropped far back, letting Byron lead but Reed moved out, followed by Byron back into the lead before a big crash on the back straight brought out a caution with 98 laps on the scoreboard. The field got red flagged once again, allowing the track crews to clean up without the hazard of cars driving by the debris field.

Approaching a green-white-checker, Byron lined up on the inside with Elliott Sadler behind hi, and Erik Jones to his right. The pace car pulled off and Jones slowed but pulled off to the right and the field continued. Byron was in the lead and across the overtime line as a multi-car wreck in mid-pack brought out the caution flag again, handing William Byron the crown as the youngest Xfinity winner at Daytona and his second series win in a row after winning at iowa last week.

Unofficial Race Results for the 16Th Annual Coca-Cola Firecracker 250, Daytona International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Status
1) 3, William Byron #, No. 9 AXALTA/Vorteq Chevrolet, 104, , 2, 49, 2, 29, 5, Running
2) 7, Elliott Sadler, No. 1 Armour Vienna Sausage 150 Years Chevrolet, 104, 5, 1, 51, 2, 7, 1, Running
3) 21, Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 WinField United Toyota, 104, , 3, 42, , , , Running
4) 17, Jeb Burton, No. 24 Estes Express Lines Toyota, 104, 8, , 36, , , , Running
5) 33, David Starr, No. 99 Chevrolet, 104, , , 32, , , , Running
6) 1, Brennan Poole, No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 104, 3, 7, 43, 3, 13, , Running
7) 10, Joey Logano(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 104, , , 0, 1, 6, , Running
8) 34, Joey Gase, No. 52 Trenton's Legacy/Premier Millwright Chevrolet, 104, , , 29, , , , Running
9) 9, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 USAF Special Tactics/South Point Chevrolet, 104, , , 28, , , , Running
10) 31, BJ McLeod, No. 78 Toyota, 104, , , 27, , , , Running
11) 30, Ray Black II, No. 07 America's Donuts Chevrolet, 104, , , 26, , , , Running
12) 37, JJ Yeley, No. 14 TriStar Motorsports Toyota, 104, , , 25, , , , Running
13) 24, Scott Lagasse Jr., No. 26 Alert Today Florida/Florida Lottery Toyota, 104, , , 24, , , , Running
14) 38, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 104, , , 23, , , , Running
15) 2, Ben Kennedy #, No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet, 104, 2, 9, 33, 3, 4, , Running
16) 36, Timmy Hill, No. 40 Dodge, 104, , , 21, , , , Running
17) 6, Matt Tifft #, No. 19 Comcast NBC Universal Salute to Service Toyota, 104, 6, , 25, , , , Running
18) 16, Brandon Jones, No. 33 Rain-X/Advance Auto Parts Chevrolet, 104, , 8, 22, 1, 1, , Running
19) 40, Jeff Green, No. 8 Toyota, 104, , , 18, , , , Running
20) 15, Ty Dillon(i), No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Chevrolet, 104, 9, 4, 0, 2, 13, , Running
21) 19, Cole Custer #, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 104, , , 16, , , , Running
22) 35, Mike Harmon, No. 74 Veterans Motorsports Dodge, 104, , , 15, , , , Running
23) 22, Spencer Gallagher #, No. 23 Allegiant Airlines Chevrolet, 104, , 10, 15, , , , Running
24) 14, Erik Jones(i), No. 20 GameStop/Turtle Beach Toyota, 104, , , 0, , , , Running
25) 29, Chris Cockrum, No. 25 Advanced Communications Group Chevrolet, 104, , , 12, , , , Running
26) 20, Ross Chastain, No. 4 GK Services Chevrolet, 104, , , 11, , , , Running
27) 13, Tyler Reddick, No. 42 BBR/Jason Aldean Chevrolet, 103, 10, 5, 17, , , , Accident
28) 27, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Flex Seal Chevrolet, 102, , , 9, , , , Accident
29) 39, Mark Thompson, No. 13 Phoenix Air Toyota, 102, , , 8, , , , Accident
30) 25, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Trademark Nitrogen Chevrolet, 100, , , 7, 1, 2, , Accident
31) 12, Ryan Reed, No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, 100, , , 6, , , , Accident
32) 5, Daniel Hemric #, No. 21 Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet, 99, 4, , 12, , , , Accident
33) 11, Michael Annett, No. 5 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet, 98, , 6, 9, , , , Accident
34) 23, Casey Mears, No. 98 Fresh From Florida Ford, 98, 7, , 7, , , , Accident
35) 18, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 98, , , 2, , , , Accident
36) 26, Harrison Rhodes, No. 01 Flex Tape Chevrolet, 94, , , 1, , , , Rear Gear
37) 28, Brandon Brown, No. 90 Horton Farms Chevrolet, 50, , , 1, , , , Accident
38) 4, Blake Koch, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 50, 1, , 11, 2, 28, 1, Accident
39) 8, Daniel Suarez(i), No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 50, , , 0, 1, 1, , Accident
40) 32, Josh Williams, No. 92 Star Tron/Krankz Audio Chevrolet, 50, , , 1, , , , Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 13 Mins, 56 Secs.
Total Race Length - 104 Laps - 260 Miles Average Speed: 116.476 MPH
Margin of Victory: Caution
Race Comments: William Byron wins the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway, his second NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Before the start of the event, the following car(s) dropped to the rear of the field for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 7, 9, 24 and 74 (unapproved adjustments).
Caution Flags: 9 for 35 laps: Laps: 9-13 (Water on the track [None]); 32-34 (Stage 1 Conclusion [74]); 37-40 (Lightning [Red 2:29:37] [None]); 51-57 (No. 00, 11, 18, 20, 90, 92 Incident on the frontstretch [None]); 62-65 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]); 87-90 (No. 25 and 51 Incident on the frontstretch [13]); 93-96 (No. 3, 9 and 48 Incident in Turn 4 [74]); 100-102 (00, 5, 7, 16, 19, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 98 Incident on the backstretch [Red 09:56] [25]); 104-104 (No. 0, 3, 13, 23, 74 Incident on the backstretch [None]).
 Lead Changes: 18 among 10 drivers: B. Poole 0; B. Kennedy No.  1; B. Poole 2; B. Kennedy No.  3; B. Koch 4-15; D. Suarez(i) 16; B. Koch 17-32; J. Allgaier 33-34; B. Poole 35-41; B. Kennedy No.  42-43; T. Dillon(i) 44-48; B. Poole 49-53; E. Sadler 54-58; B. Jones 59; E. Sadler 60-61; W. Byron No.  62-83; T. Dillon(i) 84-91; J. Logano(i) 92-97; W. Byron No.  98-104.
Coors Light Pole Award: Brennan Poole, No. 48 182.949 mph
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Hendrick Engines, No. 9
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: William Byron, No. 9

John Davison

Long-time RIS staffer, beginning in the mid-80s. Charlotte, NC area local contact.

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Volume 2017, Issue 6, Posted 5:51 PM, 07.01.2017