Byron doesn't believe pit cycle made difference in Chicagoland finish

William Byron and his Hendrick Motorsports team were jumped on the final pit cycle Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, but the driver didn’t think that was what made the difference.

“Ultimately, he pulled away from me in that run anyway,” Byron said of race winner Chase Briscoe. “I got close with probably 10 to go, and then [Christopher] Bell was super fast, and Denny [Hamlin] as well.”

Briscoe pitted one lap before Byron on the final green-flag cycle, which occurred with approximately 53 laps to go. It cycled the Joe Gibbs Racing driver into the race lead over Byron, who had been in control before that sequence. Byron never challenged Briscoe after that, and then Bell took the runner-up spot with 11 laps to go.

“Even if I had the lead, who knows,” said Byron, who ended up fourth. “But those guys were quick on the last run.”

The performance, however, was the brightest spot of the No. 24 team’s season. Byron swept both stages and led a race-high 94 laps.

Not only was it the most laps Byron had led in a single race this season, but more than the previous 18 races combined.

“Those guys were just fast,” Byron said. “Even when I was leading, they could just stay kind of with me, and everything had to be perfect. Ultimately, we got jumped there on the cycle, but they have the advantage of being second and being able to do that. I feel like if I had been perfect on that last run, I could have gotten a little closer and just didn’t quite have the pace that they had.

“I think that was kind of pretty maxed out for us. They just got the clean air, and it’s hard to defend.”

It was a race that Byron felt reiterated that the team is gaining on the race cars they are putting on the racetrack and on the dominant Toyota group. Byron pointed to the last two “oval” races as top-five results with a chance to win: he finished fourth on Sunday and was third three weeks ago at Pocono Raceway (before the two-week West Coast road-course swing).

“We’ve just got to keep inching up on it and hopefully find a little bit,” Byron said.