William Byron capitalises on late wreck, wins Goodyear 400

Ross Chastain just can’t avoid drama.

The NASCAR Cup Series‘ Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway went from being a goodday for Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., and Kyle Larson, to a badday. The trio combined to lead all but 28 of 293 laps, only for Truex to crash while racing Chastain before the latter wrecked with Larson as they battled for first.

Truex won the pole and dominated the first half as he claimed the first stage and led 145 laps, only for his day to come to an end on the final lap of Stage #2. He had been pursuing Chastain for much of said lap before Truex got into his left-rear bumper in turn three. Chastain bounced off the wall and collided with Truex, causing the latter to spin down the track.

While he avoided damage, Truex never led again as he was forced to make up lost ground. He succeeded for the most part as he was running fifth with fourteen laps to go but was turned in turn one after driving up into Joey Logano on the ensuing restart and triggering an eight-car stack-up.

“There was plenty of room there, but he just came off the wall and hit me,” said Truex of Chastain. “Like I said, knocked the tow out in the right front. Pretty crappy from there and then on that restart I guess I just got real tight and I don’t even know who I squeezed into the wall, but I apologise to them. Probably my fault, just got real tight and couldn’t stay down the track.”

The wreck resulted in Chastain and Larson’s nearly identical demise when they ran side-by-side through the first corner. Like Truex, contact between the two caused Chastain to get sideways in front of Larson, sandwiching the latter with the wall. Ironically, Larson had won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race after very similar contact to the Truex/Chastain clash occurred with John Hunter Nemechek coming to the finish.

Larson and Chastain had tangled earlier in the season at Dover and Talladega, prompting Larson’s team owner Rick Hendrick to say Chastain is “going to make a lot of enemies” with his driving style. Indeed, Chastain’s aggressiveness resulted in a feud with Denny Hamlin throughout the 2022 season while contact with Noah Gragson in last week’s race at Kansas resulted in a post-race fight on pit road.

While Hendrick had plenty of reason to be frustrated with Larson’s exit, he couldn’t be too upset overall as William Byron still brought home the win. The Chastain/Larson incident resulted in overtime, from which Byron led both laps and held off Kevin Harvick to win for the third time in 2023.

In the spirit of Darlington’s throwback weekend, Byron won in a special livery resembling Jeff Gordon’s #24 “Chromalusion” car that he raced in 1998. Fittingly, Byron’s win was also the 100th for the #24 car in the Cup Series.

“My granddad passed away on Thursday, and I wish my family could be here,” said Byron. “Just things have a way of working out, honestly. It just worked out that way today. We didn’t have the best third stage. We just kept battling, and things just kind of come back around.

“Want to wish happy Mother’s Day to my mom. My sister just graduated school, so big day. Definitely didn’t expect this. But just thankful for a great team, and things have a way of working out.”

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