How William Byron lost the Coke 600 after dominant performance

William Byron led 283 of 400 laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. He started from third position, winning Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3. But on the final run of the race, Ross Chastain completed his last-to-first charge, coming from the very back of the field in a backup car to snatch the win away from Byron.

The final pass for the lead came after 591 of the 600-mile event was complete. But what led up to that pivotal moment? Let’s take a look…

The final round of green-flag stops

On Lap 349, Byron pitted from the race lead. Denny Hamlin followed him down pit road, but Chastain did not. He stayed out, leading his first laps of the night as he pushed the run further by two crucial laps. When Byron cycled back to the front, Chastain was almost three seconds behind, but he quietly made his march forward as the focus turned to Hamlin, who had been the only driver to challenge Byron consistently throughout the race.

However, the No. 11 team failed to get Hamlin’s car full of fuel during the final stop, taking him out of contention for the race win as he was forced to make an extra pit stop. Chastain made a critical pass on Hamlin with 27 laps remaining, and at the same time, Byron had to take evasive maneuvers up the road, giving up a lot of time.

Reddick’s mistake

Tyler Reddick, who was at the tail-end of the lead lap after a speeding penalty, lost control and nearly crashed directly in front of Byron. The Hendrick Motorsports turned hard to the left as Reddick slapped the wall, going all the way to the apron and giving up almost a second of his advantage.

Chastain was now in the runner-up position with just one second between himself and Byron — and 25 laps still to go. He quickly caught Byron, but struggled to fight through the dirty air as Byron aggressively defended the top spot. Falling back to cool down the tires, Chastain made another charge as the lapped car of Joey Logano started taking clean air away from Byron as well. The car wasn’t running terribly slow either with Logano able to maintain his position ahead of the leaders.

Struggling with traffic

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet; Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

As they raced through Turns 3 and 4, Byron got loose in the wake of Logano’s car, allowing Chastain to rapidly close. However, he had Hamlin, who had just pitted again (now a lap down), to his inside. Byron crossed the line with six laps to go and Chastain was glued to his rear bumper, but with Hamlin to his inside, Chastain appeared to be trapped.

Despite that, he still made a bold move to the inside of Byron at the entry of Turn 1, helped by the fact that Hamlin gave him plenty of room. Chastain performed a slide job, throwing his No. 1 Chevrolet deep into the corner before sliding up directly in front of the No. 24 Chevrolet. Byron lifted, hitting the wall at the exit of Turn 2 as Hamlin overtook both cars and disappeared into the distance. 

Byron had five laps to respond and while he got close, he was never able to get fully back alongside, even hitting the wall a second time on the final lap. That was the end of it, allowing Chastain to claim an impressive victory, utilizing those two-lap fresher tires to hold back the dominant driver of the night.

Byron explains Coke 600 loss

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

“It’s just frustrating,” said Byron after the race. “I don’t really have many words for it. I wish I won. [Chastain] was catching me, I was trying to defend, I put a couple good defensive moves on but I got loose in (Turns) 3 and 4, and that was really it. He got that run down the frontstretch and I tried to protect the inside, but it wasn’t enough.”

Revealing more about what he was battling inside the car, Byron said he was “getting a little bit tight,” partly due to the awkward aero spot he was in with the traffic ahead of him as he tried to fend off Chastain.

“Then the scenario there with the cars we were around, it was tough. So, yeah, he got a run on me and was able to get to the bottom and clear me off of (Turn) 2. Disappointing just to lead that many laps and such a great effort by our whole team. Yeah, I guess just could have anticipated that last run a little better. I ran in dirty air for a long time and heated my tires up.

“Then we lost a chunk of time, and the 45 [Reddick] about crashed in front of us. Yeah, sucks.”

Byron won the first crown jewel of the year, claiming victory in the season-opening Daytona 500. While he was hoping to add another major win to resume this weekend, he did manage to secure a four-year contract extension with Hendrick Motorsports.