William Byron dominates at Darlington but still falls short: 'It will sting a lot'

DARLINGTON, S.C. — William Byron opened the Cup race Sunday at Darlington Raceway with an unprecedented 243 laps led at the difficult 1.336-mile egg-shaped oval.

It was a historic domination for the majority of a race that had an additional 50 laps remaining (plus what would be four overtime laps). And Byron left with the historical moment of having the most dominant first 80 percent of the race but with no trophy.

Pitting a couple of laps later than other drivers during a green-flag pit cycle, Byron lost about six seconds to Tyler Reddick. 

Ryan Blaney, who pitted about seven laps later than Reddick, was even further back but was able to rally — thanks to the stark difference in the number of laps on their tires.

As Blaney took the lead with three laps remaining, Kyle Larson slowed and got run into by Bubba Wallace, spinning Larson and causing a caution. On the ensuing pit stops, Denny Hamlin’s team ripped off a quick pit stop to put him out front. 

Hamlin held on for the final two laps for the win. Byron settled for second. Christopher Bell finished third, Reddick fourth and Blaney fifth.

The ending left Byron, Reddick and Blaney wondering what could have been.

"It sucks," Byron said. "I'm sure it will sting a lot tonight. There's still a lot of positives. It stings in the moment for sure."

Byron had the most to feel disappointed about. Rarely does a driver dominate as much as he did at Darlington.

"For us to execute like that, it was looking like it was going to be a perfect race," Byron said. "We were going to lead every lap. I was really proud of that. 

"Those guys could be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle, we lost control there. Once we lost control, [it was] too late in the going to kind of get