NASCAR Cup Series: William Byron clinches 2019 playoff berth

William Byron has clinched a berth in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs despite the fact that he has not won a race in the regular season.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron may not have secured the first victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career through the first 25 races of his second season. But he has now secured his first playoff berth.

With one race remaining in the 26-race regular season, the 21-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native has mathematically clinched a berth in the four-round, 10-race playoffs.

He clinched this playoff berth upon the conclusion of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a race he started from the pole position.

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Byron only finished this 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) Darlington Raceway oval in Darlington, South Carolina in 21st place, and he only scored 19 points, including 16 points for finishing in 21st and three stage points.

But this was enough to lock him into the playoffs for the first time in his career.

Heading into the regular season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Big Machine Vodka 400, more commonly known as the Brickyard 400, Byron, who sits in 13th place in the championship standings, sits 66 points above the playoff cut line. That said, if somebody currently below the cut line wins, the cut line would effectively move up by one position from between 16th and 17th place to between 15th and 16th.

Should it move up by one place, Byron would still be 66 points ahead of it, as the drivers who currently sit in 16th and 17th place in the championship standings, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman, are tied.

A maximum of 60 points are available for each driver in this race, including 40 for winning the race, 10 for winning stage one and 10 for winning stage two. As a result, nobody from below the playoff cut line is capable of moving ahead of Byron in the championship standings in this race.

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NBC is set to broadcast the Brickyard 400 live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 8 beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET to wrap up the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, and the playoffs are scheduled to get underway on Sunday, September 15 with the South Point 400, which is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

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