NASCAR regular-season champ comes to LVMS to chase Cup Series title
NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron’s results in the 2025 playoffs haven’t been as strong as some of the other competitors.
Byron didn’t have a top 10 finish during the first three-race round in the Round of 16. He had two top 10s in the Round of 12 but wasn’t in contention to win any of those three races.
That doesn’t matter now. Byron, the regular-season champion, has done enough to advance and still be in contention for his first Cup Series title.
“We’ve done a good job so far of just kind of managing the playoff points we have,” Byron said. “It was a big deal to win the regular-season championship, our first time as a team doing that. It was huge to have that consistency throughout the year.”
The NASCAR Cup Series begins its Round of 8 in the playoffs at the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The green flag is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Byron enters Las Vegas tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for third in the playoff standings, four points above the cutline. The top four drivers after the three-race Round of 8 will be eligible to compete for the Cup Series title at Phoenix on Nov. 2.
“I feel like (our playoffs have) been solid,” Byron said. “We’ve done what we need to do to advance through the rounds. We would like to have a little better speed at some of the tracks. But overall, the places where we’ve needed to perform, we’ve done so. We’re right where we need to be.”
Head start
Winning the regular-season championship for the first time earned Byron 25 extra playoff points he has carried through each round.
The driver of the historic No. 24 Chevrolet only has two wins this season — the Daytona 500 (Feb. 16), his second consecutive win in NASCAR’s biggest race, and Iowa (Aug. 3).
Byron, 27, said the extra playoff points can help a team get through the first two rounds.
“As long as you do your job and execute good races, you can get through (the first two rounds) based on the playoff points,” Byron said. “Then the third round really is where it’s about winning and trying to position yourself to advance because of performances.”
Byron is looking to get back to the Championship 4 round at Phoenix for the third consecutive year. He has come up short the last two seasons, finishing fourth in the championship race in 2023 and third in 2024.
Byron, who has made the playoffs seven years in a row, said he and his team have relied on their experience to advance.
“We’ve been here and done it before,” said Byron, who is in his eighth season racing in the Cup Series full-time. “That experience kind of gives us something to fall back on and say, ‘OK, we’ve done this before. What do we need to do? What do we need to focus on?’ All those sort of details seem to get more dialed in this time of the year.”
Byron could start to make a run at the title in Las Vegas. He won at LVMS in the spring of 2023, which started a string of five straight top 10 finishes at the track.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things (that) have to work together (to have a strong weekend),” Byron said. “You have to have speed. Execution is obviously at a premium, being able to execute good pit stops, good restarts, keep your track position and make good adjustments on the car. All those things are super critical in this round.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Up next
What: NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400
When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
TV: USA Network
Favorites: Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson (+450)