William Byron holds off Bubba Wallace at Atlanta
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
HAMPTON, Ga. — William Byron should not have felt comfortable as the leader with 10 laps remaining Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The leader typically has trouble controlling the race when the drivers behind him have the ability to use the aerodynamic draft to get a run from behind and a push to challenge for the lead.
Bubba Wallace knew that and pretty much relinquished the lead to Byron.
But the Hendrick Motorsports driver had a fast car, the drivers behind him failed to execute the move many expected, and Byron earned his third career Cup victory and first of 2022.
William Byron holds off Wallace, Chastain in wild finish at Atlanta
Byron became the first winner at the newly configured Atlanta, a 1.54-mile track now designed to race like Daytona and Talladega, as the increased banking requires NASCAR to reduce horsepower to keep speeds manageable.
"Mentally taxing. ... It's been an awesome weekend," Byron said afterward.
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Here are three takeaways from Atlanta:
Byron holds them off
Byron didn’t think he was in a bad spot, even with the lead late in the race. He had led 101 laps and thought he could control the race.
"As soon as it got double-file, I would say [going] into Turn 1, that really helped my cause to kind of be able to just manage the momentum," Byron said. "But single-file, surprisingly, [it] might have looked like we were staying single-file relatively easy, but it was hard to run single-file.
"It was difficult to manage the lead in the front and not have somebody get a run on you to easily pass you. ... I felt like single-file was my most vulnerable place to be, and then as soon as they would get kind of doubled-up throughout the field, that was probably a little bit easier to handle."
Wallace thought he had him where he wanted him.
"That’s where I wanted to be. ... We came up short," Wallace said.
Wallace winds up 13th
Wallace, who was second entering the final lap, first tried to duck to the inside and then ended up on the outside, where he thought he could get a shove by Ryan Blaney, but he ended up loose and against the wall, losing several spots.
"I was trying to get a run on Byron. He did a really good job, his car was fast, and he was lifting to kind of block the run, which was the right thing to do," Wallace said.
"So when the bottom [was] coming, I went down to block it and thought I had a good run to not let the 1 [of Ross Chastain] get inside, and he got inside, and it was all good because I knew they would stall out a little bit. And then it was just bad timing of when the 12 [of Blaney] and I got together. It looked like he hit the fence behind me, and I don't know how I didn’t."
Bubba Wallace explains what he hoped for on the final laps Sunday
But then he did get wrecked coming to the checkered flag, an accident that he said might have been the hardest hit he has ever absorbed in a stock car.
Bell penalized
Christopher Bell was penalized for making a pass by going below the line that separates the apron from the racing groove, a rule NASCAR uses at Daytona, Talladega and, as of this year, Atlanta.
It appeared that Bell was forced below the line, but NASCAR said he was below the line before being forced.
Instead of finishing second, he was 23rd.
"I saw a hole there and tried to take it, and we came together," Bell said. "I know he was coming down, whether or not. It kind of is what it is."
Bell’s team owner, Joe Gibbs, watched the replay with NASCAR officials after the race.
"It’s one of those things. There’s not going to be a change [in the ruling]," Gibbs said.
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
