“We were scratching and clawing”: William Byron gets a ‘shock’ reality check in the playoffs after a sudden drop in performance 

William Byron admitted that the opening round of the playoffs caught him off guard. He acknowledged his struggles and explained how he was 'scratching and clawing' to break into the top-10.

Byron entered the playoffs as the regular season champion, but was on a two-race streak where he placed outside the top-10. The first round of the playoffs extended his streak to five, with Darlington opening his bid with a lowly 21st-place finish.

He fared better at Gateway and Bristol, but could only manage P11 and P12, respectively. Despite his top-10 starts in both races, the No.24 driver couldn't lead laps as well.

Reflecting upon the same, Byron spoke to the media at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and said(via X/Kelly Crandall),

"The start of the playoffs was a shock to us. I think, as good as we've run all year, there have been very few races where I felt like I would run worse than eighth, honestly. And then it felt like in the first round, we were scratching and clawing for top 10s. Yeah, the first round was a shock to us."

Kelly Crandall

@KellyCrandall

William Byron: "The start of the playoffs was a shock to us. I think, as good as we've run all year, there have been very few races where I felt like I would run worse than eighth, honestly. And then it felt like in the first round, we were scratching and clawing for top 10s.

William Byron bounced back with a fifth-place qualifying on Saturday's(September 20) qualifying at the Loudon track. He recorded a lap time of 29.373 seconds and is the only HMS driver among the top-10. Moreover, he enters the Round of 12 with a 24-point cushion on the playoff standings.

To help his cause, HMS has reassigned some of Alex Bowman's pit crew to the No.24 team.

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William Byron reflects on a crucial aspect amid playoff push

William Byron explained that one simply needs to survive each round of the playoffs and peak at the right time. On that note, the HMS driver was happy with his efforts in the first round, but called for a step up in performance nonetheless.

"The way this format is, you just have to keep advancing and hopefully you're at your best when it counts,” he said via Speedwaydigest.com

"We had to kind of reset our goals and expectations to kind of survive and advance and we did that flawlessly. But now it's kind of time to step it up and I feel like so far this weekend we've done a good job of that so we've just got to keep it going," he added.

William Byron hasn't yet recorded a top-10 result at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In his seven starts at the 'Granite state', Byron has led only nine laps. He had his best start at third last year, but ended up with a 26th-place finish.

Moreover, Team Penske seems to be the fastest team at New Hampshire this time around. Joey Logano grabbed the Busch Light Pole during qualifying and is closely trailed by Ryan Blaney in second.