NASCAR: William Byron loses two additional playoff points
By Asher Fair
William Byron’s penalty from March ended up costing him seven playoff points instead of just five heading into the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series postseason.
After NASCAR rescinded the 100-point penalties and the 10-playoff point penalties issued to each of the four Hendrick Motorsports teams due to hood louver violations following the race at Phoenix Raceway back in March, they dropped the hammer on Rick Hendrick’s team again quite quickly.
Following the April race at Richmond Raceway, William Byron and his No. 24 team, plus Alex Bowman and his No. 48 team, were docked 60 points and five playoff points for greenhouse violations.
Bowman didn’t end up making it into the playoffs, and he wouldn’t have gotten in even with those 60 points, so his loss of five playoff points didn’t mean anything. However, Byron’s did, and he actually ended up losing two more playoff points because of the 60-point deduction.
William Byron finished the NASCAR Cup Series regular season with a series-high 33 playoff points.
He earned five for each of his series-high five race wins and one for each of his series-high eight stage wins. But with the penalty, that total dropped to 28.
Additionally, the 60-point deduction indirectly cost the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet even more playoff points, since additional playoff points are awarded to the top 10 drivers in the regular season standings on a 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale.
Byron finished the regular season in third place in the standings, but without the penalty, he would have finished in second.
So he secured eight additional playoff points instead of 10, and he is set to enter the playoffs with 36 as opposed to a series-best 43.
Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who won the regular season championship for the first time since 2017, are tied atop the standings to begin the playoffs with 2,036 points, thanks to their 36 playoff points each.
It is Truex whom FanDuel Sportsbook lists as the championship favorite. FanDuel is currently offering fans $200 for signing up and betting $5.
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The Cook Out Southern 500 is scheduled to open up the playoffs this Sunday, September 3 at 6:00 p.m. ET. USA Network is set to broadcast the race live from Darlington Raceway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!