William Byron and Ty Gibbs were close to getting their NASCAR Cup Series seasons back on track with a win at Michigan on Monday. In the end, the pair got trapped battling each other while Tyler Reddick drove away, but their results were a step in the right direction.
Byron was running a distant second to Reddick when Martin Truex Jr. slid up into the wall late and pushed Monday’s rain-postponed race to overtime. He took the bottom of the front row for the ensuing restart and muscled his way to a narrow lead with help from a pushing Brad Keselowski before another caution flew.
That positioned Byron to pick the outside, preferred lane for the final restart. He had Keselowski behind him again, too. But the Hendrick Motorsports star lost the top spot to Reddick through Turns 1 and 2 after Keselowski slowed behind him — an issue Keselowski said was tied to his engine briefly shutting off.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
“I’ll relive that restart and what lane to choose overnight, for sure,” Byron admitted afterward. “It seems like always, as the leader, you want to take the top. But I’ve gotten beat twice here by the bottom and I had the lead on the bottom, barely, over (Reddick). But he had a better car than us, so he was a little bit faster. “
In search of his first win, Gibbs fired off behind Reddick for both of the final two restarts. He nearly followed Reddick past Byron and through to second in double overtime but couldn’t quite clear his No. 24 Chevrolet off Turn 2 and ended up falling back to third. The pair stayed in second and third for the final lap, crossing the line within a second of Reddick as he scored his second win of 2024.
“I feel like we were in contention, for sure,” Gibbs said. “I needed to get up sooner off (Turn) 2 to clear the No.24. Just missed it by a little bit, then after that it takes a lap to get wound back up after you lose momentum.”
Byron could have used the victory to add to his playoff point total going in to the postseason. He has three wins, but entered Michigan seventh in points and unlikely to catch many of the drivers ahead of him for regular season bonus points. His three wins all came in the opening eight races of the year. Since then Byron’s struggled to find consistency, with as many finishes outside of the top 20 (five) as he has in the top five.
“Second sucks, but (I’m) really proud of the effort,” Byron said. “We’ve been trying to put weeks together like this, and this is a really good step. Everyone did a great job on the team. Strategy was awesome. Car was awesome all day. I’m really proud of the team.”
Gibbs’ top five was more consequential, helping the sophomore make big strides toward his first Cup Series playoff appearance. He’d entered Michigan 19 points up on the cutline. Aided by issues for the three drivers behind him, the 2022 Xfinity Series champ left the Irish Hills with a 39-point cushion.
With two rounds left before the playoffs — including a wild card at Daytona International Speedway — Gibbs was happy to see his playoff advantage grow.
“It definitely is good to have a good points day,” Gibbs said. “Definitely wish we could have won and locked ourselves in, because winning usually takes care of about everything. But I’m thankful to be here and thankful to have a good day.”