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NASCAR docked William Byron 25 points in the playoff points table and also fined $50,000 for intentionally spinning Denny Hamlin during a caution period last week’s Texas race. The strict penalty put Byron’s championship hopes in danger and now desperate for a win to secure himself in the next round of the playoffs.
His #24 Hendrick Motorsports team, however, has already filed an appeal against the penalties. The appeal will be heard next week before the third race of the Round of 12 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
After Saturday's qualifying race, William Byron came forward to express his opinion on the matter for the first time since the penalty was imposed on him. He stated that he has been helping his team prepare a solid case for an appeal against penalties. He also pointed out that he has not changed his approach for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Speaking to the media, Byron said:
“We’ve kind of compiled our list of evidence and got quite a few videos and things to look at and information that we’ve put together. So, I feel pretty good about that and willing to help any way I can. I feel like I’ve tried to help in some ways, just to try to get all the evidence kind of put together. But yeah, I feel good about that end of things… Like I said, we’re just focused on, I mean, this weekend we just have to go get stage points, try to go win the race, and there’s worse places to do it.”
The 25-point penalty dropped William Byron from third to tenth place in the playoff standings. He moved from a 17-point advantage to eight points below the cutline to advance into the Round of 8 with two races remaining in the Round of 12.
William Byron revealed Denny Hamlin had no issues regarding the clash at Texas Motor Speedway
Further to the conversation, William Byron stated that he recently had a good conversation with Denny Hamlin regarding the clash. He also said that he isn’t thinking about Hamlin or his team, but rather looking to his team to move forward in the playoffs.
Byron said:
“We had a good conversation a couple of days ago, and we’ve never had issues. So I’m not really worried about … I’m not thinking about Denny and his team. You know, I’m thinking about our team and what we can do going forward. So yeah, it was a good conversation, learned a lot from him, got a better understanding of kind of what he was thinking.”
Catch the #24 driver at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, October 2, 2022. He will start in the fifth row after qualifying P9 in Saturday’s qualifying race.
