Despite the relative lack of action when compared to Kansas or Bristol, the race at the Texas Motor Speedway had its fair share of drama and thrill. With Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson looking set to take the win, fate intervened and caused him to sleep behind 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. But his teammate, William Byron quickly stepped in for him and passed through the likes of Chase Briscoe and Bubba to score the win in the final moments of the race.

Coming back from his own P5 finish, 23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin spoke on his podcast about the impressive strategy of William Byron’s No. 24 team.

Denny Hamlin expresses admiration for the No. 24 team that beat his own driver

Going into the race in Texas, weather forecasts were centered between the possibilities of rain and heat. With the latter ruling the skies ultimately, the 267-lap event unfolded pretty calmly, save the final 25 laps. Kyle Larson was engaged in a close battle with Bubba Wallace when his old tires gave out from under him and lost grip on the surface of the track. Spinning out to crash, it appeared like the day was Bubba Wallace’s for a time.

But a late restart that came with just 5 laps to go, switched things up completely and William Byron came out of nowhere to take the lead for the first time. Capitalizing on Bubba’s decisions, he stayed ahead and ended up winning, acquiring the admiration of Denny Hamlin.

Speaking on the No. 24 team’s character of utilizing the mistakes of others to their own advantage, Denny said, “That has been that team’s M.O. this year where they won 6 races, I don’t know how many they have dominated and there haven’t been many. But they definitely capitalize. That is the epitome of capitalizing on other’s mistakes. Being there… If you are there enough, you are gonna win races. Whatever that definition is, William Byron’s name and face is right there right now.”

While the Denny Hamlin-Michael Jordan partnership’s driver Bubba had been leading the race in front of Chase Briscoe and Byron with 6 laps to go, the calls that he made from there led him to a P3 finish.

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The bad call that Bubba Wallace made led him to a defeat against William Byron

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23XI Racing’s No. 23 driver had somehow managed to scrape through the contest into the playoffs and the round of 12, without a single win this year. With his championship hopes still beating a heart, a win might have put him in strong contention. For most of the laps in Texas, that did look likely.

He led 111 laps of the possible 267 and was ahead of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Byron on the restart with 6 laps to go. On restarting, he chose the outside lane and traveled in parallel to Chase Briscoe to enter the track and Byron got behind the No. 14 driver. As Chase went deep into the turn on the restart, Bubba was sent deeper outside, which opened up space for Byron. Using that, he thrust himself forward ahead of two.

Reflecting on the moves, Denny Hamlin said, “I was thinking under my head in the caution, when I saw Bubba choose the outside of Chase Briscoe, I am like, ‘F*** this is not gonna end well.’ It’s just that the track record is not good with Briscoe.” Bubba himself was not very pleased with his decision. He said to the media after the race, “We’re racing for a win. I just hate it. I should have just kept my line into (Turn) 3 and forced William to get tight. But we’re so vulnerable in these cars, right? Just upset with myself.”

Though he did not manage the win that appeared so close, his P3 finish did come above his team’s owner. The win has put William Byron through to the round of 8, but Bubba and Denny Hamlin will have to undergo huge tests at Talladega and the Charlotte Roval to book their own seats.

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