This was not the day Rick Hendrick hoped for. After seeing his most popular driver, Chase Elliott, lose it all in the last lap of the Daytona 500 last weekend, HMS looked to better their results at Atlanta today. Unfortunately, things unravelled at the speed of light. Just when the Autotrader 400 was shaping up for a straight fight to the finish, it unraveled in turn three, and a lot of frustration quickly pointed toward William Byron.

With just three laps remaining in the scheduled 260-lap distance, Byron brushed the outside wall and suddenly lost momentum. The No. 24 slowed dramatically on the back stretch, stacking up the field behind him.

What followed was unavoidable chaos; contact between Byron and Austin Cindric ignited a chain reaction that erupted into an 11-car pileup before the pack could react.

The wreck collected a long list of contenders, including Cole Custer, Todd Gilliland, Noah Gragson, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, and Cody Ware, among many others.

There was early speculation that Byron may have suffered a tire going down, which could have triggered the initial wall contact and abrupt loss of speed. Whatever the root cause, the damage was immediate and severe.

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The caution lights flashed, and moments later the race was red-flagged to allow for extensive cleanup. What had been shaping into a dramatic but regular finish was suddenly reset.

Instead of a straight dash to the checkered flag, the field was sent into overtime, a twist that dramatically altered the outcome and shifted the tone of the closing laps entirely.

This just adds to the series of unfortunate events in William Byron’s 2026 season. At the Daytona International Speedway, Byron was forced to drive in his backup car while he was looking to chase history by winning his third straight Daytona 500.

However, the dream still remains undone, as Reddick stepped in to collect a win while the race at Atlanta also failed to give the HMS driver his victory.

But as he bears the responsibility of pushing the race into overtime, the fans online were not ready to let it go.

NASCAR fans slam HMS after Atlanta blunder

Social media erupted with a lot of Hendrick dislike, and the fans definitely did not hold back.

“Some terrible judgement calls on track today, Byron was definitely not clear to get to pit entry,” one fan wrote, pointing to what they felt was the critical miscalculation that triggered the stack-up.

Another added, “That was shaping up to be SUCH a good finish, especially for my 23xi boys,” referencing Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, especially the strong late race run from Wallace and Company before the caution erased that momentum.

Others did not hold back at all. “Hendrick has done their best to ruin everybody’s day,” one post read, while another quipped, “The Hendrick team meeting tomorrow needs to be ‘there are other drivers on the track.'”

But things got seriously personal when one person brought up the blown-up tire parallel at the Championship race, comparing Byron’s blunder to that level.

“We were getting ready for a generational finish between Bubba & Hocevar, but Byron had to ruin it just like he fucked over Denny in Phoenix Championship race,” one fan ruthlessly admitted.

Fair or not, the red flag in overtime reset shifted the narrative instantly, from a potential classic finish to a blame game centred squarely on HMS.