William Byron’s Heartbreak: Hendrick’s Mistake Leaves Him Helpless

William Byron was within two laps of his second NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season on Sunday, only to
run out of gas with the finish line approaching.

Hendrick Motorsports star Bryon
led for 98 laps in
the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway,
but he was informed by his pit crew that he was short on fuel heading into the closing stages.

And with
Joe Gibbs Racing star Denny Hamlin hot on his tail,
championship leader Byron could ill-afford to do much fuel saving in the No. 24 Chevy.

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Hamlin would snatch the lead on lap 197 of 200,
going low to make the move on Byron. The 44-year-old would pull more than a second clear of the chasing pack to lock up his third Cup Series win of 2025.

With his hopes of victory over, Byron had to worry about just making it to the end of the race, and he ducked into pit road to refuel before taking the checkered flag in a season’s worst 28th place, finishing with a haul of 29 points.

Byron, whose lead at the top of the Cup Series standings was shaved to 41 points by Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson, was philosophical when giving his verdict on a deeply disappointing day.

“That one’s like, you can’t really do a lot about,” he told
Amazon Prime Video.
“I mean, it sucks. Like, it really stings. But we had a really good car.

“I thought we executed well. It seemed like we waited a little bit on fuel the last stop and just burned more and not able to do much about that. So it is what it is.”

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During the race, Byron told his crew over the radio: “Coach me on the fuel. I’ll do the driving,” but the best efforts of himself and his team were not enough.

“It’s hard to save enough [fuel] and keep the lead and that’s what kind of drew him in,” he told
FOX Sport’s Bob Pockrass.
“It seemed like he could just run hard. It didn’t seem like he had to worry about fuel at all and I was kind of having to do both.

“He got me there, for sure, but I was going to run out. I just tried to go for the win. I felt like we had one of the dominant cars all day and, unfortunately, when you’re so close to a window like that and you run out front, you burn a lot more fuel. I was trying to manage both, but it sucks.”

Byron will be back in action this week at the Viva Mexico 250, with the Cup Series hosting its first points race overseas for the first time since the 1950s.