For a team that only has a partial season of sponsorship confirmed and is looking for sparks of momentum, Sunday’s result – combined with a runner-up finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February – marks continued progress after a rough year for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2017.
“What a good day; what a good weekend. We had the mojo the whole time,” Wallace noted. “These big runs are going a long way for this little team. It started at Daytona and now this just adds even more to it. We’re gonna go places, man. I’m pumped.”
Meanwhile, Byron rallied from the rear of the field after an engine change early in the weekend to post his first top-10 finish in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Byron improved at every juncture of the race, charging from 33rd to 16th in the opening stage, then moving up to 13th by the end of the second stage before taking the checkered flag in 10th.
The 20-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., was the final car on the lead lap, but found his way to the front briefly during the penultimate round of green-flag pit stops on Sunday, pacing lap 234 to push his laps-led tally to 17 through the first seven races of the season.
“It was really good for us to get a top-10 finish,” said Byron. “We had a good car. Once the sun came out we weren’t quite as good, I don’t think, but after starting in the back this was definitely a good day for us. We had a lot of adversity and kept having to go to the back, so it’s good to come back from that and get a top 10.
“It feels awesome. It feels great to get a top 10. It obviously takes a lot of things to happen. We didn’t quite have the speed we wanted to. We were really good in practice, but I think some of our weaknesses showed up when the rubber laid down on the track on the bottom groove. Overall though, it was a pretty good day and we can definitely build on this. … We had a ton of things happen, but I thought that we ended up about where we should have.”
Byron leaves Texas 18th in the regular season point standings, while Wallace is one spot back in 19th.
Both young guns are chasing Wood Brothers Racing and driver Paul Menard, who currently occupies the final berth in the provisional 16-driver playoff grid with just under a third of the regular season in the books.
Due to the change in tabulation for Sunoco Rookie of the Year points this season, Byron also carries a slim lead over Wallace in the rookie battle as well. The two are separated by just 11 points heading to Bristol Motor Speedway for the eighth race of the year.
Previously, the rookie points system was separate from the drivers’ standings, but NASCAR announced in January a change that brought the two sides in line for the 2018 season.
