The trend of first-time Cup race winners ended in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. However, the string of surprise winners this NASCAR season continued, as William Byron stunned the field with a dominant victory.

Byron bagged his second race win in the Cup Series after winning for the first time at Daytona in last year’s regular-season finale. The Hendrick Motorsports no. 24 books his playoff spot very early in the season and another playoff place goes to an unexpected name at this stage of the season.

“I can’t even believe it, honestly. It was just a really smooth day. We worked hard in the winter on this track and can’t believe it,” said an ecstatic Byron right after his victory.

“This car is just awesome, it really is. A lot of hard work. We went to the sim 4-5 times this off-season and just pays off, man. It’s awesome,” he added.

Byron finished the race ahead of Tyler Reddick and Martin Truex Jr, as Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick completed the top-5.

William Byron reserves huge praise for crew chief Rudy Fugle

Team owner Rick Hendrick was in attendance and celebrated with Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle in the no. 24 team’s camp.

Byron praised Fugle, who told his team to “get used to winning” right after the chequered flag. “That guy has been huge for my career. He’s the reason I’m here and I’m glad we could get him. He’s just awesome,” Byron said.

Byron began fighting for the lead in the second stage and did not look back ever since. In a big move to end the second stage, he snuck past the Joe Gibbs cars of Denny Hamlin and Truex Jr. to win the stage.

Byron dominates the race in Homestead-Miami

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Byron stayed in the lead for most of the final stage and led over 100 laps on the night. Hendrick’s Larson once again showed his skills at Homestead-Miami, but it was not enough, as Byron kept increasing the lead.

With around 30 laps to the chequered flag, Byron already had a lead of over five seconds over the no. 5 car. Eventually, Larson lost his place as Reddick rushed to bag a second-place finish, while Larson finished fourth.