Nothing could keep William Byron from collecting a trophy at his home track on Saturday. Byron overcame a mid-race penalty for speeding on pit road, avoided trouble in a spate of late-race cautions and rallied in the final two laps to pass Justin Allgaier and win the BetMGM 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Byron – a Charlotte, North Carolina, native – is still in search of his first Coca-Cola 600 victory. On Saturday, though, the driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet made sure that momentum had shifted in his favor for the weekend's marquee event on Sunday. Byron was penalized at the end of Stage 2 for speeding on pit road and was forced to drop to the rear of the field.
He methodically made his way back to the front, utilizing fresher tires than Allgaier to chase down the JR Motorsports driver on the race's penultimate lap, clear him for the lead and speed to victory by 0.302 seconds over Connor Zilisch.
Nick Sanchez finished third with Allgaier fourth and Sammy Smith fifth.
Byron led 71 laps in his final scheduled Xfinity Series start of the year. Allgaier paced the field for 103 of 205 circuits, but stayed out on a Lap 180 caution period and was left to fend for the win on tires much older than his opponents.
A green-white-checkered restart after a multi-car crash proved to be Allgaier's undoing and Byron's golden opportunity.
Allgaier tried to block Byron's hard-charging No. 17 car, but as the leaders approached the white flag, Byron swept past Allgaier's No. 7 machine on the outside and was never challenged over the final 1.5 miles.
"This one's on my shoulders," said Allgaier, the 2023 race winner. "This team gave me a great race car. I'm so proud of everybody. Memorial Day weekend means a lot. I wanted to win today.
"I would've won, had we just pitted with the field, and it's my daughter's birthday. She wanted a trophy for today so I'm disappointed. I'll go back and kick myself on this one. It's just really frustrating."
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 17 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET (Race Winner): "Once I sped, it was just playing catch-up from there out. We were never really on offense until we got new tires with 20 laps to go. I knew Justin was going to stumble on those old tires (on the final restart), so I was just waiting to make a move, sizing up where I could get him in (Turns) 3 and 4. (This win) means more to me for a couple of reasons. Winning in the No. 17 is cool. I've been close to winning in the 17, but I still hadn't done it. The big one is winning here at Charlotte, my family's home track. We've been to this track a lot as fans. This was where the dream really started for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get a win at Charlotte. Hopefully, this takes a little pressure off and tomorrow we can go after winning the race and running the way we want."
CONNOR ZILISCH, NO. 88 JR MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET (Runner-Up): "Second place is never fun, but I'm very grateful for my entire JRM Chevrolet team. The car was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. We just didn't have enough on that last restart. We had a tire rub, we had a motor that was stumbling all day long. To come away second with a bunch of stage points is a really good day, but you always want more."
