CONCORD, N.C. — From the early laps of the Coca-Cola 600, it was apparent that William Byron had a dominant car. He was attempting to cap off a perfect weekend after sweeping all three stages of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But it still came down to the waning laps.
After Denny Hamlin made a dash to pit road for fuel with less than 15 laps remaining, Ross Chastain catapulted to second position and was closing the gap significantly on Byron. The No. 24 car had used up its tires earlier in the run, being stuck behind multiple competitive lapped cars, including Tyler Reddick who got fully sideways and clobbered the outside wall, making the No. 24 make an evasive move to the inside down the backstretch. Meanwhile, Joey Logano wasn’t making Byron’s life any easier in the closing laps as the final car on the lead lap.
With six laps remaining, Byron got loose off Turn 4, allowing Chastain to get a run down the frontstretch. The No. 1 Chevrolet cleared the No. 24 car through Turns 1 and 2, setting sail for his first victory of the season. Chastain erased an eight-second deficit in the final 40 laps to win his first crown jewel race.
Byron led a career-high 283 laps, but left his home track disappointed.
“He was catching me, and I was trying to just defend,” Byron said after the race. “I was getting a little bit tight. Then the scenario there with the cars we were around, it was tough. 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. 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 [No.] 45 about crashed in front of us. Yeah, sucks.”
Byron said he will learn from this loss and be better for it in the long run. It stung in the moment, as it’s the second time this season that the No. 24 car has led north of 240 laps and finished runner-up.
The bright side for the No. 24 team is it secured three playoff points by winning the first three stages. That matched his stage win total from the previous 12 races of the 2025 season.
“I feel like our team’s ability and my ability is really good right now,” Byron added. “We just have to capitalize. It sucks. All you can do is keep learning from it and move forward.”
At the halfway point of the regular season, Byron is the regular-season championship leader by 29 points over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. By scoring a race-high 65 points and Larson wrecking out at Lap 245 earning a single point for the race, Byron saw a 64-point swing in the standings at Charlotte.