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William Byron Is NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Champ, But Does It Matter?

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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William Byron

Somewhat lost in all the hoopla surrounding Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night is that NASCAR crowned a champion. The Cup Series regular season champion, William Byron.

Byron’s 12th-place finish coupled with major misfortune for one of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Chase Elliott, allowed him to clinch the regular season title a week early.

As a result, Byron will arrive at Daytona for this Saturday night’s regular season finale under no real pressure. That’s not the only benefit of capturing the regular season championship, however.

William Byron’s Chances Of Making A Deep Playoff Run Just Went Up Significantly

By virtue of winning the regular season championship, William Byron has elevated odds of qualifying for the Championship 4.

The reason? Pretty simple: As regular season champion, Byron will get an extra 15 playoff points that carry over to the start of each playoff round, except the final one, if he makes it that far.

Drivers can earn playoff points in all but the last race of the season. And they can do so in three ways: by winning races (five playoff points per race victory), by winning stages (one playoff point per stage victory) and by finishing in the top 10 of the regular season standings.

Although Byron won’t be the only driver to collect playoff points for his regular season points finish, he’ll get by far the most (Second-place earns 10, third-place gets eight, etc., all the way down to one playoff point for the 10th-place finisher.).

Bonus Playoff Points Will Prove To Be A Great Equalizer For William Byron

Without his 15 extra playoff points, William Byron — who has just two wins this year — would have likely started the playoffs a good bit behind Denny Hamlin and Shane van Gisbergen, who lead the Cup Series with four wins apiece.

But now, Byron is well-positioned for the start of the playoffs. And for the Round of 12 and Round of 8 if he advances that far.

“It’s huge,” Byron said after clinching the regular season title at Richmond. “No one’s really pulled away (in the standings) in a sense. I feel like we’ve let some races slip where we could have gotten another five bonus points.

“All in all, we’ve had a really good year. Which shows in the stage wins, the amount of points we’ve had.”

Playoff points, not traditional race points aka stage points, are the sole determining factor in how drivers that remain championship eligible are seeded for the Round 16, Round of 12 and Round of 8.

That’s because championship-eligible drivers have their overall point totals reset at the beginning of each round to the same baseline number (The four Championship 4 drivers enter the final race with the same baseline number of points, without any playoff points added.).

How Did William Byron Manage To Win The Regular Season Title?

In a word: consistency. While William Byron hasn’t won as many races this year as Denny Hamlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Kyle Larson or Christopher Bell, he’s been hands-down the Cup Series’ most consistent driver.

Byron and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports group especially turned it up in the two races prior to Richmond, winning at Iowa and finishing and fourth at Watkins Glen. Those outcomes allowed Byron to make up a points deficit to Chase Elliott. And by the time the Richmond race ended, Byron actually had enough of a lead on his teammate to put the regular season title on ice.

“I think we buckled down and really got back to the team we’re capable of being,” Byron said. “Pretty impressive August probably.

“Probably our best August we’ve ever had just executing, thinking outside the box, bringing fast cars.”

Come whatever may in the playoffs, Byron is savoring his regular season championship.

“It’s something to celebrate,” he said. “Twenty-five, 26 races that you have to perform. Really proud of that.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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