For just the second time in NASCAR history, the Regular Season Championship has been clinched a week early. The last time it happened was in 2020, when Kevin Harvick sealed the deal right after the penultimate race, the Drydene 311. Now, five years later, another driver has done it again. All because of the crew’s strategy and the driver’s consistency.
Yes, William Byron is officially the 2025 Regular Season Champion. Even he probably wouldn’t have imagined leading the Cup standings by a massive 68 points with one race still left in the regular season. But thanks to his stellar run at the Cook Out 400, that’s exactly where he stands.
Starting Saturday’s race from P14, the Hendrick Motorsports driver needed to finish at least 62 points ahead of second place to lock it up. And, the man right behind him was none other than his own teammate, Chase Elliott. And who knows, if not for that wild three-wide battle down the backstretch at Lap 198, NASCAR’s Golden Boy might have overtaken Byron for the crown. But then came the Kyle Busch-driven chaos.
So, Busch made contact with Chase Briscoe’s right rear entering Turn 3 at the 0.75-mile short track, sending Briscoe spinning and sparking a pileup that swept in 11 cars. Trying to escape the mess was Chase Elliott, but he wasn’t so lucky. Busch clipped Elliott’s right rear, and the next thing we saw was Elliott slamming nose-first into the outside wall. Just like that, the 2020 champ’s day was done with his first DNF of the season. However, what’s more surprising, though, is that Elliott isn’t calling out Busch for it.
“We’d all stacked up in the wreck there, and I guess he, I’m sure [Busch] just didn’t know I was coming by on the bottom,” Elliott said. The pileup even caught the points leader, William Byron, who clipped Elliott’s car in the chaos. However, unlike his teammate, Byron managed to continue.
And while that Busch-triggered wreck ended any shot at a regular-season crown for one Rick Hendrick driver, it opened the door wide for another.
“Bring him the crown,” NASCAR posted on X right after Austin Dillon defended his Richmond win, shaking up the playoff picture even further. For Byron, though, it was all upside down. He now collects 15 bonus playoff points to add to the 17 he had already earned through the first 25 races.
Bring him the crown.@WilliamByron is the 2025 Regular Season Champion! pic.twitter.com/T7TAQoNR0r
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 17, 2025
And even wishes have started to pour in as well. “Congrats, you’re the regular season champ. Oh, sweet man. Good job to you. … Appreciate all the effort all year, guys. It’s been really good. Let’s get some rest this week and get after it, and go kick some ass at Darlington. And Daytona,” wrote Jeff Gluck on X. While all eyes are on Daytona and Darlington now, it’s a tidy reward for his workmanlike run and P4 finish at Watkins Glen.
Keeping the No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet clean at the Glen was no easy task. But Byron did just that, extending his points lead over Chase Elliott to 42. And while both drivers have been consistent, their crew chiefs, Alan Gustafson for the No. 9 and Rudy Fugle for the No. 24, played a massive role in shaping the results.
At Watkins Glen, Gustafson kept Elliott on track while most of the field short-pitted before the stage one caution. Meanwhile, Fugle made the call for Byron to stay out, snagging a runner-up finish in the stage and nine valuable points. That strategy helped him claw back into the top five, where he stayed until the checkered flag.
“I like racing these guys. We work together all the way through and we let the execution and the drivers and the pit crews at the track, we let those chips fall where they may,” had said Rudy Fugle, last weekend. “But we work together. We don’t hide anything from each other. We try to make each other better because we all want somebody in-house to win everything every week.”
A week later at Richmond, Byron and the No. 24 Liberty University Chevy once again executed split tire strategies to perfection, another key step toward sealing his crown. Byron was one of the first two HMS drivers to hit pit road in stage one at the Cook Out 400, benefiting from the fresh rubber, gathering crucial track position after starting back in the pack, and finishing P12. So, maybe we already know it’s the team alignment and strategy that is helping Hendrick’s Garage.
Meanwhile, for RCR, both drivers today acted as a deciding factor. One decides the fate oneself. Another for Rick Hendrick’s drivers.
It was all RCR-led results in Richmond
Richard Childress is both a proud team owner and a proud grandfather today as Austin Dillon has punched his ticket to the playoffs with a clutch win at Richmond, giving RCR something to celebrate after what’s been another frustrating stretch for Kyle Busch. And, for Dillon, the timing couldn’t be better.
Exactly one year after losing his championship eligibility for wrecking two drivers on the final lap, he’s back in victory lane, this time on pure racecraft. Dillon outdueled Ryan Blaney over the final 100 laps, seizing control with a smart strategy call to pit his No. 3 Chevrolet four laps earlier than Blaney’s No. 12 Ford. That move paid off in a big way.
Dillon went on to lead 107 of 400 laps and crossed the line 2.471 seconds clear of Alex Bowman. And while it was Dillon behind the wheel, many are pointing to the brains in the pit box. Reports suggest it was Richard Childress’s race-day strategy that sealed the deal.
“We got a three-second lead here. We don’t need to mess him up at all. Don’t get no trouble. Back it down,” is what Childress noted on Jesse Love’s radio, as per Jeff Gluck. Meanwhile, for Kyle Busch, it was just another day of treading water. Even before the race, he was heard keeping things in perspective.
“I’m not stressed out over it. I think we go to each and every single weekend with the mindset of trying to go out there and win. We haven’t put ourselves in that position to score a victory, so we need to, but I wouldn’t say this weekend puts any added pressure on,” Rowdy said earlier.
In all, Richmond belonged to the big names. Childress was all smiles, hugging his grandson in victory lane, while Rick Hendrick is maybe quietly celebrated in the background with William Byron’s crew, as NASCAR posted by denied them a stage at Richmond.
So, the team is looking ahead to next week, when Byron will finally hoist his Regular Season Championship trophy.
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