“We’re heading to a track where we have a good notebook and have success.” These words came from William Byron a few days before Sunday’s race in Las Vegas. Indeed, the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports driver has dazzled on the 1.5-mile oval racetrack. He clinched a win here in March 2023, besides accruing four top-five finishes. However, Byron marginally failed to earn a second victory in 2025.
During the Pennzoil 400 race, William Byron started from the 8th place, seeking to strike when the chance arose. A chance did arise towards the end of the race. However, Trackhouse Racing star Ross Chastain’s presence prevented Byron from getting ahead – as the letter retold post-race.
William Byron dissects his ‘Chastain’ed race
Well, the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team has hardly been devoid of controversy recently. Remember the first lap of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix race? Ross Chastain wheeled his car and rammed it into the side of Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet. Then the melon farmer fell totally silent for a week, as his competitors demanded to know why his aggression reached fever pitch. Chastain confronted another Hendrick Motorsports driver in Las Vegas. This time, it was William Byron – yet Chastain limited his aggressive tendency here. That was enough to do the job and derail Byron’s contention for the win.
After starting in the top ten, William Byron initially faded away. Then he came back in solid form by the third stage, nestling among the race leaders. But somehow, the lead stayed away from his grasp. He reflected on his struggles in a post-race interview: “We’ve had this speed for a while. It’s just, the characteristics of the car – to be able to make the moves that you want to make. You know, I think we could work on just the characteristics…I could probably be a little bit pickier on Saturdays on what my car needs to do so that when I do get into an off-cycle situation I can maneuver it. It’s not like our car’s a different car in the first two rows.”
William Byron on his fourth-place finish at Vegas and how he and Ross Chastain raced each other (and will race each other). @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/fL0imyirfS
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 17, 2025
After Noah Gragson’s flat tire brought out the final caution of the day, William Byron had a chance to grab the lead. But Ross Chastain delivered a hard block to the No. 24, and Byron faded to fourth. The HMS driver talked about his encounter with Chastain: “Once we lost that, okay, now we got a dog fight to get back to four. We just gotta work on that…Yeah, I just wish I wouldn’t have let him get to my left rear. I cleared out and kind of took my normal line into 3…He just got to my left rear and it drove us back off the top two. So yeah, he’s aggressive, you know, he takes every inch. And you just gotta race that way with him.” Byron ultimately delivered a positive verdict on Chastain: “It was a good battle.”
Indeed, instead of getting into wreckfest mode, Ross Chastain focused on other things. The primary thing was to support his teammate.
Pushing his padre to the front
Remember the 2024 Ambetter Health 400 race? Yeah, the three-wide photo finish that was led by Daniel Suarez. That was the last time the Mexican driver came close to Victory Lane. The next time, unfortunately, came over a year later – but Suarez gave it all his might. He and his teammate were both forces to reckon with from the second stage. When Gragson’s flat tire on lap 242 interrupted a cycle of green-flag pit stops, Suarez was behind race leader Joey Logano. As the latter lost crucial time on pit road, Suarez was now the race leader. That was when Ross Chastain used all his might to support his Trackhouse Racing teammate.
Chastain lined up his No. 1 Chevrolet behind the No. 99 of Suarez, shoving the latter to the race lead. It did not work as Josh Berry passed Suarez on lap 252. But it still showed what Ross Chastain was focused on doing – supporting his team. “I was fully committed to him and happy to do it. We stayed connected well. It was aggressive, but it got him the lead and he bottomed out too hard with his car and it let [Berry] get inside of him a couple of laps into that run. Bummer because he had a better car than we did and had a shot to win and it just slipped away from us.”
Evidently, Ross Chastain delivered a block to William Byron to let his teammate soar ahead. Although Daniel Suarez fell shy of just 1.3 seconds behind Josh Berry, it was a good shot.
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