William Byron is casting a cautious eye over his upcoming performance at Kansas Speedway as he continues in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff battle.
Speaking to the media ahead of the race weekend, he explained, as quoted by NASCAR.com:
“I feel like that’s what makes our group really good is we’ve really come together during this time and we know we’re not where we want to be or need to be. But now is the time to start showing that and now is when it matters.”
Byron’s struggle in the current playoffs is important. The best finish he secured in the Round of 16 was ninth at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a considerable drop from his top-five finishes in previous playoff seasons. This marks only the second time in Byron’s career that he has failed to finish in the top five during the first three playoff races, the last instance being in 2019.
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Looking ahead to the Kansas Speedway race, scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, a strong performance is essential to continue in the Playoffs. This race will set the stage for a demanding round that concludes with the Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway road course.
Byron’s history at Kansas has been up and down; in 13 starts, his recent finishes have been less than stellar, coming in at 15th and 23rd. Byron commented on these results:
“Just kind of had some trouble early in both of those weekends.
“Feel like we had a lot of speed, but we just had some difficulties. In ’23, I spun out in the first stage, kind of damaged the car some and then in the spring this year, hit the wall in qualifying.
“Just kind of a little bit of driver mistakes and feel like it kind of took us out of the rest of the weekend or damaged our car potential. This weekend, just looking to have a solid weekend, start to finish and I feel like we always have the speed at Kansas and just trying to find that right balance for longer runs and just have what we need to go there and perform.”
Entering the Round of 12, Byron sits fourth in the standings, with a 14-point cushion above the elimination zone. This points reset offers a clean slate, and Byron’s team is poised to capitalize on it.
“It’s definitely a really important track and it’s really a good judge of where everyone is speed-wise and how they are execution-wise because pit stops are important in Kansas.
“It’s one of those places where I think it’ll be really important for the future of the playoffs and kind of where you stack up. There’s just a lot of points that you can get and it’s a little bit more in your control than Talladega. If you go out and get top five in stage points, both stages, you’re going to be in really good shape.
“I feel like our group is really well prepared. We prepare better than anyone I feel like on our team.
“I just think that it’s about things starting to come together and come our way. A couple little things here and there and it’s going to add up and make a difference. So I feel good about where our group is and what we’re capable of. We’ve shown that over the last 14 to 18 months of what we’re able to do and races were able to win.
“I’m excited, and I feel like our team is ready to go.”