William Byron started in position number two at the green flag of Go Bowling at The Glen but that was the low point of the driver’s day. Byron cruised to victory in his Chevrolet to claim his fifth win of the 2023 season. The win at Watkins Glen International is also Byron’s first career win on a road course.
Byron wasn’t quite out front all day, in fact he was as low as third in the opening laps. Pole sitter Denny Hamlin led the opening three laps before losing the lead. Michael McDowell was able to maneuver around the Hamlin machine on lap four and led through stage one. McDowell lost the lead when he suffered a penalty on pit road. Later McDowell became the only driver to fail to finish the race, having electrical issues on lap 74.
Byron, who secured a fifth straight win at The Glen for Hendrick Motorsports, took the lead and never looked back. Leading 66 of the remaining 70 laps from the stage one ending, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch led two laps each respectively during pit cycles.
The only caution of the race came on lap 55. Chase Elliott ran out of gas down the back stretch. The caution came in the middle of a pit cycle and eventually led to Byron back at the front for the restart. With only a single yellow flag, the race goes down as the fastest to be run in NASCAR’s modern history which dates to 1972. Completed in one hour, 58 minutes and 44 seconds, the 2023 edition of the races takes down the previous record holder of the 2017 edition of the Cup Series at The Glen at a previous time of two hours, seven minutes and three seconds.
Results
Following Byron was pole sitter Hamlin in second, followed by Christopher Bell, Allmendinger, and Ty Gibbs in fifth. Martin Truex, Jr., Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano completed the top ten. Full results can be found here.
The NASCAR Cup Series now turns to Daytona International Speedway in Florida next weekend. The final race before NASCAR’s playoffs leaves only a single spot available with Bubba Wallace currently holding the position. The race is Saturday night at 7 p.m on NBC and MRN Radio.
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