NASCAR: William Byron wins 2019 Open stage one, advances to All-Star Race

William Byron has won the first stage of the 2019 Monster Energy Open to advance to the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron won the first of three stages of the 2019 Monster Energy Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway to lock himself into the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race at the track later tonight.

The first stage of this 50-lap (will be longer because the first stage went into overtime) Open around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Charlotte Motor Speedway oval in Concord, North Carolina was a 27-lap stage, and after starting it in third place in his #24 Chevrolet, Byron won it by just 0.006 seconds over Richard Petty Motorsports’ Darrell Wallace Jr. in second in his #43 Chevrolet. He led only one lap in this stage.

Here is a video of this photo finish between Byron and Wallace Jr.

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As a result, Byron will not compete in the remaining 30 laps of the Open. He is set to start the 85-lap All-Star Race at the track in 16th place.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman rounded out the top five by finishing in third, fourth and fifth place in their #42 Chevrolet, #41 Ford and #88 Chevrolet, respectively.

Richard Childress Racing rookie Daniel Hemric, who started the race from the pole position, finished in sixth place in his #8 Chevrolet ahead of the stage’s highest finishing Toyota driver, Leavine Family Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto, in seventh in his #95 Toyota. Wood Brothers Racing’s Paul Menard, Front Row Motorsports’ David Ragan and JTG Daugherty Racing rookie Ryan Preece rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th in their #21 Ford, #38 Ford and #47 Chevrolet, respectively.

Stage two is scheduled to last for 20 laps while stage three is scheduled to be a 10-lap shootout. The winners of these two stages are set to advance to the All-Star Race as well, and they are scheduled to start in 17th and 18th place, respectively.

The winner of the All-Star Fan Vote is also set to advance to the All-Star Race as well. He is set to start the race in 19th place.

If the winner of the Fan Vote also wins a stage of the Open, the driver who advances to the All-Star Race as a result of the Fan Vote will be the highest finishing driver in the Fan Vote who did not win a stage of the Open.

Here are the full results of stage one of the 2019 Monster Energy Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Stage One Results
1st – William Byron
2nd – Darrell Wallace Jr.
3rd – Kyle Larson
4th – Daniel Suarez
5th – Alex Bowman
6th – Daniel Hemric
7th – Matt DiBenedetto
8th – Paul Menard
9th – David Ragan
10th – Ryan Preece
11th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12th – Michael McDowell
13th – Ty Dillon
14th – Matt Tifft
15th – Corey LaJoie
16th – Landon Cassill
17th – Cody Ware
18th – Bayley Currey
19th – Quin Houff
20th – Timmy Hill
21st – Ross Chastain
22nd – Joey Gase
23rd – Chris Buescher
24th – B.J. McLeod

The remainder of the Monster Energy Open is currently being broadcast live on Fox Sports 1, and the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race is set to be broadcast live on this channel beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.