‘This one is for my mom,’ William Byron becomes the first multiple race winner in the Next-Gen car by holding of Joey Logano at  Martinsville

‘This one is for my mom,’ William Byron becomes the first multiple race winner in the Next-Gen car by holding of Joey Logano at  Martinsville

William Byron wins the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville

William Byron led the Hendrick Motorsports dominance in Martinsville bagging his second race win of the season, the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400. The .526-mile short track saw the absolute dominance of HMS and the team also marked the record for most laps led in Martinsville with10,000 laps, thanks to the latest effort put in by winner William Byron with 212 lap lead and pole-sitter Chase Elliott’s 185 lap lead.

The Martinsville was seen to be destined to win by Hendrick Motorsport driver, it was the question of who among the four drivers will take it home. It was a cakewalk for William Byron until the final restart at overtime where he had to survive an average start and an advancing Joey Logano.

Joey Logano couldn’t take advantage of his position in the final lap and finished 0.303s behind the leader. Austin Dillon ran a strong third behind Logano, with Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain claiming the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

Find out what William Byron had to say about his second win of the season

William Byron
William Byron

William Byron acknowledged that he was lucky that he stayed out without pitting in the final caution as they believe and could refire the tires. He went on to say that he had one of the most aggressive guys in Joey Logano and left the bottom open for him to make an advance but was able to block my exit to drive at the corner better than the rivals.

“When that last caution came out (for Todd Gilliland’s brush with the Turn 4 wall on lap 393), I thought everyone behind us would pit. Luckily, we stayed out—we were aggressive. We felt like we could refire the tires and be OK,” William Byron said.

“You’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you with Logano. I chattered the tires in (Turns) 3 and 4 (on the white-flag lap) and left the bottom open, but I was able to kind of block my exit to get a good drive off (the corner),” William Byron added.

William Byron dedicated his win to his mom who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year at the same time and survived the disease. He went on to say it means a lot to him to have her with him and added he felt like she was riding with him at the track.   

“This one is for my mom. This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here, and I’m going to enjoy this one,” says William Byron.

Also read: Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayers explain what lead to their infamous Martinsville fistfight