William Byron wins NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports’ top driver, watched Sunday’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on television, but that didn’t stop the march of one of NASCAR’s top teams.

Hendrick driver William Byron shot to the lead on the first lap of overtime and stayed out front to win the 400-miler, the third points race of the season. Byron led 176 of the day’s 267 laps but almost lost the win to teammate Kyle Larson, who finished second.

Larson was leading and appeared to be in line to win the race when a crash by Aric Almirola brought out a caution with four laps to go and pushed the race to overtime. All of the leaders except Martin Truex Jr. pitted for right-side tires for the overtime dash.

Byron, 25, roared by Truex on the restart and won without a serious challenge to score his fifth career Cup win. Chevrolet has won the first three points races of the year.

Larson was second, and Alex Bowman made the first three a Hendrick sweep. It marked the third time Hendrick drivers have finished one-two-three in a Cup race. Bubba Wallace was fourth and Christopher Bell fifth.

“We spent a lot of time in the off-season just going through running at the sim (simulator) with Chevy and running on iRacing and just trying to get better as a race car driver and as a team,” Byron told Fox Sports after the win. “It’s all about the team. It’s a great pit crew.”

Byron dominated the first two-thirds of the race, winning the first and second stages with ease.  He led 152 of the race’s first 165 laps and was solidly in front across that stretch, rarely being challenged for the lead.

In the final stage, Larson took the lead as Denny Hamlin, Truex and Bowman also challenged Byron’s dominant stance.

Josh Berry, who substituted for