William Byron wins chaotic Cup race at new Atlanta Motor Speedway

William Byron fended off fierce charges late to win an eventful race at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

After tying the track record with 11 cautions, the final restart came with 13 laps remaining. Byron controlled the inside lane on the front row with help from Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Christopher Bell. Byron, who led a race-high 111 laps, cleared Bubba Wallace in the outside lane and pulled high.

On the final lap, Chastain pulled to the inside of Wallace and into second place. Ryan Blaney attempted to push Wallace through Turns 1 and 2 but they and Chase Briscoe found themselves scraping the outside wall. That allowed Byron, Chastain and Bell to charge ahead to the checkered flag.

MORE: Atlanta results

At the checkered flag, Byron was ahead of Bell by 0.141 seconds while Wallace, Justin Haley and Chris Buescher crashed hard behind them. Bell, however, was penalized by NASCAR for passing Chastain for second on the backstretch beneath the double-line on the inside of the track, a boundary rule typically only seen at Daytona and Talladega. Bell was relegated to a 23rd-place finish unofficially, the final car on the lead lap.

Sunday’s race featured 46 lead changes, a track record and most this season. It was the first race held on Atlanta’s new configuration which featured higher banking in the corners, wider straightaways and tighter turns to emulate superspeedway-style racing.

The event was filled with side-by-side pack racing and multi-car accidents, including a 13-car crash at Lap 145, eliminating then-leader Tyler Reddick and others from contention.

Following Bell’s penalty, the unofficial top five behind Byron was completed by Chastain, Kurt Busch, Suarez and Corey LaJoie, who