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NASCAR: Will William Byron pull off feat never achieved in Cup history?

By Asher Fair

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - AUGUST 31: William Byron, driver of the #24 HendrickAutoguard/CityChvrltThrwbck Chev, climbs into his car prior to qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2019 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - AUGUST 31: William Byron, driver of the #24 HendrickAutoguard/CityChvrltThrwbck Chev, climbs into his car prior to qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on August 31, 2019 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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William Byron is seeking to pull off a historical feat that has never been achieved in NASCAR Cup Series history in today’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Entering the final race on the 26-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series regular season schedule at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron has a chance to pull off what nobody in NASCAR history has ever managed to accomplish.

This race, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, more commonly known as the Brickyard 400, is scheduled to take place later this afternoon, and the qualifying session for it is scheduled to take place later this morning.

Should Byron take the pole position for this 160-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, he will have taken the pole positions for each of the four crown jewel races on the 2019 schedule.

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Byron opened up the season by taking the pole position for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in mid-February before taking the pole position for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in late May and the pole position for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway last weekend.

The 21-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native also took the pole position for the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway in early June, but that is not considered a crown jewel race. He co-leads the series in pole positions so far this season with four along with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Never before in Cup Series history has a driver taken the pole positions for all four of the crown jewel races in a single season.

Entering the 2019 season, two drivers had taken the pole positions for the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500 in a single season. Fireball Roberts pulled off this historical feat for the first time in the 1962 season before Bill Elliott pulled it off in the 1985 season. As a result, Byron became the third driver to pull it off.

Roberts and Elliott both won the Daytona 500 in their respective seasons of pulling off this feat, with Elliott winning the Southern 500 as well. However, Byron is still searching for what would be the first victory of his Cup Series career. He has competed in 61 races.

He has recorded finishes of 21st, ninth and 21st place, respectively, in the three crown jewel races so far this season. He sits in 13th in the championship standings having clinched a playoff berth for the first time in his Cup Series career with a top finish of second in the July race at Daytona International Speedway.

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Will William Byron become the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to take the pole positions for each of the four crown jewel races in a single season? Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 10:30 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the qualifying session for the Brickyard 400 to find out. The race itself is set to be broadcast live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on NBC beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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