For the second year in a row at COTA, and 13th time in his career, William Byron has won the pole award in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying. Byron was quiet throughout practice, but when it came time for fast laps, he provided them.
While he didn’t need to break the track record in the final qualifying round, he did claim the record during the first session. Byron brought the record down, bouncing back and forth with Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick, to 2:09.11. All three national series single lap records for COTA were broken this weekend.
William Byron has road course skills. Last year he was on the pole but Tyler Reddick got the better of him. Can he get the job done this year with another pole award in his hands?
Throughout practice the story was about Ty Gibbs, AJ Allmendinger, Shane van Gisbergen, and even Kyle Larson was mentioned a few times. Byron was just not being looked at, until his qualifying lap.
When it was time to unleash a fast one, Byron had it in his pocket. People think of Chase Elliott as the Hendrick road course racer. Even Larson has some wins on the road. But we better start putting Byron in that group as well as a top-tier, if not elite, driver on the twists and turns.
William Byron beats out Toyota in qualifying
Of the five cars to make it from Group A qualifying to the final round, four were Toyotas. Add in Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell from Group B and it was six of the ten drivers in the final round. Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, and Tyler Reddick were the other Toyota drivers.
With so much Toyota speed, William Byron pulled off an impressive pole. The new Camry body style has given these cars some new speed, not just at COTA. It has been the whole season more or less.
The Cup Series race is going to be very interesting. A lot of fast drivers weren’t able to qualify well, including SVG. Will these drivers be able to move through the field to contend for the win or was the damage already done to their efforts?
William Byron will lead the field to green at COTA. Since winning the Daytona 500, Byron has been quiet in recent weeks, and that might all change tomorrow.
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