William Byron punches ticket to Round of 8 with victory at Texas

Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

William Byron got a milestone victory for Rick Hendrick while advancing into the round of eight of the NASCAR playoffs.

Bubba Wallace felt like he let one get away.

Byron took the lead for the first time right after the final restart with six laps left Sunday at Texas, staying in front after going underneath Wallace and Chase Briscoe, to win the opener of the second round of the playoffs and get the 300th victory for Hendrick Motorsports.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

William Byron (24) burns his tires after winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023.  (AP Photo/LM Otero)

"I choked ... I had my worst restart," said Wallace, who after just sneaking into the round of 12 started from the pole and led a career-high 111 laps. "This one is going to sting for a little bit."

The top five finishers were all playoff contenders, with Ross Chastain second, ahead of Wallace, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin. Retiring driver Kevin Harvick was sixth and playoff driver Brad Keselowski seventh.

"We’ve just been kind of steady Eddie through the first three or four races and we haven’t shown any flashes, but today I thought we had a good car if we could have just get to the front," Byron said. "At the end there we were really fast."

Byron finished 1.863 seconds ahead of Chastain for his sixth win of the season, the most in the Cup series. He maintained the points lead he had starting the second round.

Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Chastain, Keselowski and Kyle Larson round out the top eight of the playoff standings behind Byron. Wallace moved up