William Byron Cautious About Kansas Performance – ‘Not Where We Need To Be’

William Byron is cautious about his performance at Kansas Speedway as he continues his NASCAR Cup Series Playoff campaign.

Speaking to the media ahead of the race weekend he said: Quote from NASCAR.com:

“I think what made our group really good is that we really came together during this time and knew that we weren’t where we wanted to be or where we needed to be. But now is the time to start showing that, and now is when it counts.”

Byron’s campaign in the current playoffs is significant. His best finish in the Round of 16 was ninth at Atlanta Motor Speedway; this was a significant decrease from his top-five finishes in previous playoff seasons. This marked the second time in Byron’s career that he failed to finish in the top five in the first three play-off races; The last instance was in 2019.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, scheduled for 3pm ET, a strong performance is essential to advance to the Playoffs. This race will set the stage for a challenging round that ends with the road course at Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Byron’s history at Kansas has been checkered; He was extremely successful in 13 starts, finishing 15th and 23rd. Byron said of these results:

“We had a bit of trouble early in both weekends.

“I feel like we were very fast, but we had some difficulties. I spun on the first stage in 23, did some damage to the car, and in the spring of this year I hit the wall in qualifying.”

“It was a little bit of a driver error and I feel like it took us away from the rest of the weekend or hurt our car potential. This weekend, I just want to have a solid weekend, from start to finish I feel like we always had the speed at Kansas and we got longer. “We’re trying to find the right balance for the runs and trying to get the things we need to go out there and perform.”

Going into the Round of 12, Byron sits fourth in the standings, 14 points clear of the knockout zone. The points reset provides a clean slate and Byron’s side are ready to take advantage of it.

“It’s definitely a very important track and it’s a good assessment of where everyone is pace-wise and how they’re doing performance-wise because pit stops are important in Kansas.”

“This is one of the places that I think is going to be really important in terms of the future of the playoffs and the accumulation. There’s only so many points you can get, and it’s a little more under your control than Talladega. If you go out and get in the top five in stage points, you’re going to do really well in both stages.” You will be in the situation.

“I think our group is prepared really well. We’re preparing better than anyone I think we have on our team.

“I think it’s just a matter of things coming together and coming our way. A few little things here and there will come together and make a difference. So I feel good about where our group is and what we can do. “We’ve shown over the last 14 to 18 months what we can do and win races.

“I’m excited and feel like our team is ready to go.”