After 400 miles around Homestead-Miami Speedway, it was William Byron who brought home the checkered flag.
“That guy has been huge for my career. He’s why I’m here. I’m glad we could get him; he’s just awesome” Byron said about his crew chief, Rudy Fugle, in his post-race interview with FOX Sports.
“I can’t even believe it, honestly. This was just a really smooth day, and we worked hard in the winter on this track. I can’t believe it.”
Four cars were forced to start at the rear of the field on Sunday including pole-sitter, Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Corey LaJoie, and James Davison. With Hamlin starting in the rear, Joey Logano was the control car on the initial start.
Brad Keselowski was able to take the lead from his teammate on lap 13 and led until the competition caution flew on lap 26. Keselowski remained on-point until Chris Buescher passed him on lap 53.
10 laps after Buescher took the lead, the caution came out for James Davison when his engine expired. Buescher went on to claim the stage one win, marking his second stage win of his career. Other drivers receiving points in this stage included: Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, and Austin Dillon.
Green flag pit stops in stage two started on lap 38 when Ryan Newman came to get service. The leaders soon followed, and Truex Jr. was able to cycle around as the leader, passing Buescher.
The third caution of the race came on lap 153 when Corey LaJoie’s engine blew up. This set up a one lap shootout for the stage win, which ultimately went to William Byron. The rest of the top-ten included: Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski.
The yellow flag was thrown again on lap 199 for debris from an incident between Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney. Under this caution, Hamlin was caught for speeding on pit road.
With 40 laps to go, Kurt Busch hit pit road for a vibration. The Team Penske cars followed him to pit road shortly after to get four tires and fuel.
The race went green the rest of the way, and it was William Byron who was victorious.
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas for the running of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube. Tune into FOX at 3:30 PM ET on Sunday for coverage of the race.
