It was a strange bit of déjà vu at
“I don't love winning races that way, it's very stressful," Byron said, grinning. "A lot of tactics going on with the restarts.”
Late restarts may add to Byron's stress, but they're also adding to his win total.
His No. 24 Chevrolet got a great start in overtime with two laps left, and just like he did a week earlier at Las Vegas, he overtook Larson for the win. He also had to hold off
Byron's victory also denied
But a yellow flag with 10 laps remaining dashed Harvick's hopes.
Several drivers changed just two tires on the ensuing pit stop, but Harvick took four, falling back to seventh place for the restart with three laps left. He finished fifth.
Another caution immediately after the restart sent the race to overtime.
Larson — whose No. 5 Chevrolet was the fastest during Friday's practice and also during Saturday's qualifying — was fading after Harvick's pass, but the late yellow flags gave him a chance until Byron snatched away the victory.
Larson finished fourth, capping a frustrating finish.
“Restarts are just tough,” Larson said. “I felt like I ran William up pretty high and was expecting him to lose some grip. But he did a really good job of holding and cleared me down the backstretch.”
All four Hendrick cars were inside the top 10.
Harvick was attempting to become the sixth driver in Cup history to win 10 times at one track, an exclusive club that includes
Byron and Larson had the fastest cars for most of the race. It continued a dominant stretch by the two Hendrick drivers, who were 1-2 for much of the Las Vegas race.
Byron won the first stage, leading 59 of the first 60 laps. Larson won the second stage.
HARVICK'S CONSISTENCY
Harvick's attempt at a 10th win at Phoenix understandably attracted the most attention, but the race was also his 20th straight top-10 finish at the track. That streak dates back to 2013 and is the most top 10s in a row at one track in Cup history.
NOT ALL ROSES
If that caused any distractions, it certainly didn't show on Sunday.
“It’s a test of mental strength,” Byron's crew chief
HEAT CHECK
It was one of the hottest days of the year so far in
That made for some uncertainty about how the cars would handle, particularly since the weather was much cooler for Friday's practice and Saturday's qualifying.
“I thought it was really difficult to drive,” Byron said. “From an objective standpoint — I know we were competitive — but I didn't think we could pass any better. So there's still some work to do there.”
ODDS AND ENDS
Green-flag pit stops around the 120-lap mark led to pit road speeding penalties for multiple drivers, including
UP NEXT
The three-race
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