William Byron recovers from penalty to win Xfinity Series race at Charlotte

CONCORD, N.C. -- William Byron’s long rally from a pit-road speeding penalty put the driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Victory Lane -- and left reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier heartbroken. Fresh from the announcement of a four-year contract extension with Hendrick, Byron passed Allgaier for the lead through Turn 4 of the first lap of overtime at Charlotte Motor Speedway and stayed out front until a violent wreck involving Jeb Burton and Brennan Poole brought out the 11th caution of the race and froze the field. By then, Connor Zilisch had taken second and Nick Sanchez third, as Allgaier faded to fourth. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Charlotte But the crux of the race had occurred much earlier, when Allgaier, leading under caution on Lap 180 of 205, chose to stay on the track instead of coming to pit road for new tires. Byron got fresh rubber under the caution. That and a spate of cautions that allowed him to move closer to the front of the field for a succession of restarts gave Byron the track position he needed to salvage the victory. A pit-road speeding penalty during the Stage 2 break sent Byron to the back of the field for a restart on Lap 99, and it took him until overtime to get back to the front. The victory was his fifth in the series and the first at Charlotte, his home track. “I was somewhat confident,” Byron said of his prospects for a rally. “I felt like if we got some yellows, it would be good, but, man, it didn’t work out the way we thought it (would). Just had a lot of green-flag running and couldn’t get back to the front.” Until the final 20 laps, that is. After a multicar wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 184, Byron restarted ninth. He gained one position before an accident involving Katherine Legge and JJ Yeley slowed the field again on Lap 189. On the subsequent restart, however, Byron gained ground and was running third when Brandon Jones’ Toyota bounced off the outside wall and collected the No. 70 Cope Family Racing Chevrolet of Leland Honeyman and the No. 28 RSS Racing Ford of Kyle Sieg. That caution, the 10th of the race, forced overtime and gave Byron the chance to restart behind Allgaier in the bottom lane. Ultimately, the fresher tires made the difference. “Man, it feels awesome to win at my home track,” Byron said. “It feels really good. It’s fun to be back in Victory Lane. I haven’t won in a while. I just needed to get to the front couple of rows, and I wasn’t able to get there until the last one. “Justin got a good restart, and I was able to push him and get clear of the 88 (Zilisch) and had some clean air on the nose.” WATCH: Charlotte Xfinity win ‘means more’ to Byron than others Allgaier felt nothing but regret at the outcome. “I should have just come down pit road,” he said. “I thought there would be a lot of games played on pit road, and if (those on fresh tires) had to travel through a lot of traffic, we were going to maybe net OK. “And all those cautions, one after the other, it was great because we were able to hold those guys off, but they really just hurt us because they (his pursuers) were able to get a spot or two every restart. “I’m heartbroken… My daughter, all she wanted for her birthday was a trophy, and I feel like I gave that away. That’s the hardest part.” Allgaier led 103 laps, the most coming after Byron led 69 of his 71 laps in sweeping the first two stages. Despite the disappointment, Allgaier maintained a 72-point lead over second-place Austin Hill in the series standings. Sammy Smith finished fifth, followed by Dean Thompson, Josh Williams, Hill, Ryan Ellis and Christian Eckes. In his 144th start, Ellis posted the first top 10 of his Xfinity Series career. Four Sunoco rookies -- Zilisch, Sanchez, Thompson and Eckes -- finished in the top 10. MORE: Zilisch unhappy with Thompson after contact The Xfinity Series returns to action next Saturday for the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). NOTE: Xfinity Series post-race inspection at Charlotte is complete, confirming William Byron as the race winner. The No. 8 car driven by Sammy Smith was disqualified for failing to meet the minimum weight requirement and will be credited with a last-place finish. The No. 00 car driven by Sheldon Creed was found with one loose lug nut, which will result in a monetary fine. The Nos. 48, 26 and 39 cars will return to the R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further inspection.