What we learned after William Byron's dominant victory at COTA

Hendrick regains control of the series

After two consecutive weeks of Toyota decimating the field, Byron made sure that Hendrick Motorsports was well represented at the front of the pack, as did his teammate Alex Bowman, who finished fourth. While many considered Byron a championship contender going into Sunday's race, a couple of mediocre runs in a row had dampened the excitement that followed his Daytona 500 win. After Sunday's dominating win, he's all the rage again for those picking the championship. Another nugget? Byron has won twice in the first six races in all three seasons with the Next-Gen car and has the most wins (10) of any driver with the car, dating back to the start of the 2022 season.

Toyota comes close, but can't quite close the deal

While Toyota had multiple cars finish in the top five for the third consecutive race, they have to feel like Sunday's race was a missed opportunity. Differing strategies from Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs gave the advantage to Byron and Bowman, and though Bell was the fastest car on track late, he was too far back to chase down the No. 24. Maybe he would get to Byron if he got past Gibbs quicker, but this is a race that Toyota - specifically, Bell - will have on their mind for a long time. 

Ross Chastain's slow stop dooms his day

Chastain's seventh-place finish is certainly a good day, but for a driver who spent a good chunk of the race in the top five, Sunday's race is a story of what could have been. A slow pit stop during the field's final trip to pit road not only put Chastain far behind race leader Byron but also behind the likes of Bowman, Gibbs and Bell. Tyler Reddick and A.J. Allmendinger later found their way around Chastain, leaving the Alva, Fla. native to finish six spots short of where he could've ended if not for the slow stop.

Ford is a no-show once more - time to be worried?

After zero Fords made the final round of qualifying on Saturday, many fans wrote off the blue ovals on race day. As it turns out, that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. The only Ford to finish inside the top ten was native Texas son Chris Buescher, who placed eighth. After that, the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney finished 11th and 12th, but Ford showed a complete lack of speed once more in Austin. As the only manufacturer with zero wins six weeks through the season, the executives in Detroit will be pacing the board rooms, desperate for a trophy as the circuit heads to Richmond next week.