NASCAR: Two-faced William Byron, gambling Chase Elliott, and Daytona
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Will the real William Byron please stand up?
By this time of the year, let’s assume this is the actual William Byron of 2023. He’s either first or worst.
OK, maybe not worst, but not always a contender. He won a couple months back at Atlanta, then won Sunday at Watkins Glen. In between, his finishes were between 14th and 35th.
He has nine finishes of 20th or worse this year, but also leads the series with five wins. He’ll take it. Last year, he got his second win in early April and then went on a 28-race winless streak.
Those things shouldn’t happen at Hendrick Motorsports — then again, look at Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman this year.
Really, except for Martin Truex and the summer of decency from Denny Hamlin, there hasn’t been a lot of top-10 consistency out there anywhere.
They call Daytona a crapshoot, but Chase Elliott says something else; which is it?
Crapshoot has been the time-honored description for plate-racin’ at Daytona and Talladega. If the dice fall the wrong way, you leave on a tow truck instead of a wave of champagne.
This past week, however, anticipating a win-or-else weekend at Daytona, Chase suggested it’s like showing up in Vegas and “having to hit the nearest slot machine for a jackpot.”
If we’re gonna split hairs here, let me suggest it’s closer to roulette — more bouncing around. Either way, there’s a ton of happenstance, and often the race wins the driver instead of the other way around.
Chase almost always leads laps at Daytona, just not the right one. Not yet, at least.
