Hendrick Motorsports Insider Reveals the One Move That Put William Byron Ahead of Michael McDowell

Although it was not a great day for Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, their Hendrick Motorsports teammate had the last laugh at the decisive race at Watkins Glen. With just the last show at Daytona remaining, William Byron bagged his fifth win of the season and by doing that, he has attracted praises from NASCAR veterans like Dale Jarrett and Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With the usher of the next-generation stock cars, everyone knows that merely having the fastest car does not guarantee a win. Strategy is perhaps one of the most crucial factors to consider while planning out the course of one’s run along the NASCAR ovals. And William Byron’s crew chief devised such a strategy that actually worked wonders and got the #24 Chevy Star, a cruise down the victory lane.

The mastermind behind William Byron’s dominant performance at Watkins Glen

William Byron entered the racetrack of the Glen with just one top 5 finish at a road course. And he came out with his first-ever win at one. He started the race second. However, he snatched the lead from Michael McDowell just after the latter won stage 1, and after that, he steered forth to ace the rest of the race. Not only did he win stage 2, but he also finished 1st after leading the pole-winner Denny Hamlin by three seconds. However, someone else was turning the keys from behind the scenes. And it was Rudy Fugle, Byron’s Crew Chief.

A genius move by Fugle on lap 22 made Byron stand out. Rudy advised Byron to run an extra lap after the leader McDowell and then come down to the pit road. This got Byron the lead, and the clean air that he needed prior to pitting and accelerating for the lead. While talking to the reporters after the race, he said, “It was kind of like the old F1-style!”

“Stay out, get clean air, get a good lap in and we pitted there and got the lead,” Byron laughed.

Rudy Fugle explained in a recent HMS video how the number 24 Valvoline team made the difference at Go Bowling at The Glen. Their plan was not to push too hard, but to analyze their car and how Byron felt while driving it.

He said, “We were pestering the 34 car towards the end of stage 1. Stayed out a lap longer than him and during the pit stop, just a great sequence we were able to get out in the lead, and from there on, we controlled the race.”

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Dale Earnhardt Jr generously praised the driver of his former team in one of his recent podcasts. However, he said that had McDowell not suffered from a miscalculated pit strategy, winning might have not been that easy for William Byron.

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The race at Watkins Glen kicked off on a positive note for Michael McDowell as he led and won the first stage. However, the Front Row Motorsports Speedster drove through too many pit stalls before making his first pit stop. This got him a penalty of running an extra trip down the pit road. That, in turn, made him fall back to the 17th position while Byron quickly got to the lead. But that was not all.

Come lap 76, McDowell radioed to his team that he was losing power. Although he worked his way back to the top 10, he lost pace and had to pit again.

While the crew fixed his car, the #34 driver lost several positions in the race. Although he has a spot in the playoffs owing to his win at Indianapolis, he failed to get a back-to-back win like Chris Buescher. Unfortunately, the Ford icon had to settle for a last-place finish as the crew pushed his car back into the garage.

Dale Earnhardt Jr said, “We don’t really know how Michael McDowell would have fared because he had some trouble in pit road…but he had some good decent speed in his car.”

“I think if he was able to keep the lead, I don’t know if Byron could have gotten from him,” he affirmed.

However, it is a gala celebration for William Byron behind the garage of Hendrick Motorsports as the 25-year-old Chevy star is receiving all his flowers after his ninth Cup Series win.

Read More: William Byron Claims One Person Makes Him Replicate Jimmie Johnson’s Peak