May 27, 2025

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron had the most dominant car of the week for this week's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Beginning the race from the third position, Byron quickly jumped to the lead after the first lap, ahead of Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson, leading for seven laps until Larson got ahead of him. Byron remained in second until Larson spun off of turn four on lap 42. From there, Byron was in control and dominated the entire race. He would be unchallenged during stage one from there and won it. In the second stage, Byron faced little opposition outside of Tyler Reddick and a few minor issues with cars going off the lead lap, but he won the stage and earned more stage points. In the third stage, Byron finally got a proper challenge as Denny Hamlin competed with him throughout the stage. Hamlin eventually took over the lead on lap 262, but Byron came back to beat him just before the end of the stage for the stage victory, becoming the first driver to sweep the first three stages of the Coca-Cola 600 since Larson accomplished the feat in 2021. In the final stage, Byron traded the lead back and forth with Hamlin a few times until green flag pit stops, where Byron edged ahead while Hamlin failed to get all of the fuel in his car. Byron looked to cruise to victory until Ross Chastain came through the field and challenged Byron for the lead on lap 385. Chastain successfully executed a pass on Byron with five laps to go, and although Byron tried to mount a charge, he was unable to get past Chastain and placed second. This marks the third consecutive race at Charlotte where Byron finished in the top five, and now he inherits the regular season points lead from Larson.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com