Byron holds off late charge from Bell to win NASCAR Cup race at COTA

Byron, who was fastest in practice on Saturday and won the pole, dominated Sunday’s race, leading five times for 42 of the 68 laps on his way to his second win of the 2024 season.

Byron lost the lead at the start of the final stage to Ross Chastain, ran him back down to reclaim in, lost it again during a final round of green flag pit stops but cycled back out front with 17 laps remaining.

He held off a spirited late charge from Christopher Bell – who pit later and had slightly fresher tires – by 0.692 seconds to earn the 12th victory of his career.

Watch: ‘Just a lot of fun to win races’: William Byron discusses COTA triumph

Byron and Hendrick MotorSports teaMMAte Kyle Larson have combined to win three of the season’s first six races.

"We've had a little bit of a rough stretch the last few weeks but put a lot of prep work in this week, and just thankful for the team I have around me, all the people back home as well. Just super thankful for having this opportunity.

 "It's just a lot of fun to win races, and it's really difficult. We're going to enjoy this one."

Ty Gibbs ended up third, Alex Bowman fourth and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were A.J. Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Three-time Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen was hampered by a pit road speeding penalty and ended up 21st. Sportscar racing ace Kamui Kobayashi was involved in several on-track incidents and finished 30th in a third 23XI Racing entry.

Stage 1

Bell was among a group of drivers who elected not to pit before the break and cruised to the Stage 1 win by more than 19 seconds over Daniel Suarez. Michael McDowell was third, Austin Cindric fourth and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five.

Stage 2

Denny Hamlin elected not to pit before the break and held off a fast-approaching Ryan Blaney by 0.565 seconds to take the Stage 2 win, his first stage victory of 2024. Truex was third, Todd Gilliland fourth and Ryan Preece ended up fifth.

On Lap 22, as Bell was dropping back in the field on older tires, he spun Kyle Larson out in front of him in Turn 11. Larson stalled briefly but was able to eventually continue in the race.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several of the lead-lap cars pit with Larson the first off pit road. Byron remained on the track to inherit the lead and led Gibbs and Chastain when the race went green with 35 laps to go.

Byron overshot Turn 1 on the restart and Chastain powered by and into the lead for the first time in the race.

While battling for fifth with 30 laps to go, Chase Elliott was penalized for short cutting the course in Turn 4 and had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Two laps later, Bell got into Busch in Turn 1 and sent him around. Busch was able to quickly get his No. 8 Chevrolet back going but lost several positions on the track.

Byron patiently ran down Chastain and got around him in Turn 1 with 25 laps to go to reclaim the lead.

Bowman was among the first to hit pit road on lap 45 for his final pit stop to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race. Byron and Chastain hit pit road one lap later.

When the round of stops was completed on lap 51, Byron cycled back into the lead with a nearly 2-second advantage over Bowman.

Byron’s advantage over Bowman had grown to almost 4 seconds with 10 laps remaining. Bell, who was on slightly fresher tires, ran fourth but nine seconds behind the leader.

Gibbs muscled his way around Bowman in Turn 2 to take the runner-up position with eight laps remaining.