You wanna talk symbolism? Well, here you go.
William Byron led the first 67 laps of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350, then hung around during the rest of Stage 1 before disappearing from the top 10 at the end of Stage 2.
On Lap 277, he’d found his way back to the lead. And he stayed there for the final 74 laps. That’s right, he led the first 67 and the final 74 laps of the 350-lap affair.
That quality book-ending of a Sunday came during a year when he won the season’s first race and, now, its most recent. In between he alternated between bad luck and bad efforts, often resulting in bad results.
To get it done Sunday, he needed to get great gas mileage, which he did, and the credit is going to the rash of cautions over the final third (or so) of the race — 40 of the final 128 laps were run at fuel-saving caution speed.
I literally put pen to napkin, did some math involving NASCAR’s 18-gallon tanks and the fact Byron ran the last 144 laps (126 miles on that track) getting seven miles per gallon. Sounds horrible to you, but that’s practically Prius mileage for a stock-car racer.
In older times, the tech sleuths would’ve been X-raying Byron’s No. 24 Chevy from stem to stern in search of hidden fuel lines. Now, they just write it off to the marvels of modern mechanical engineering. But they still examine, you know, just in case.
They certainly won’t credit the ethanol, in spite of the long-running public-relations campaign. Yes, we’ll get to that, and more, as we grab a gear, point it straight between two corn rows, and sadly leave the heartland behind.
First Gear: When 7 mpg is a good thing
Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, made an odd request late Sunday afternoon.
“Slow down,” basically. Byron had enough of a lead, but might not have had enough Sunoco in the tank. Along with the unfamiliar request, there was an on-track sight bordering on comical.
Shane van Gisbergen and Cody Ware, after falling a lap down to Byron, suddenly had him in their laps.
As Byron slowed, he was backing up to the two lapped drivers, who both did the right thing: They slowed, too, not wanting to make any sudden moves that might affect Byron negatively and turn them into heels.
Every little bit of anchor helped Byron, who made it to the checkers and a burnout and there’s an angle to this you probably hadn’t considered.
The full name of Sunday’s race is actually the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. Do your own research on how Iowa’s corn farmers benefit from ethanol’s political advantages, but for our purposes, consider this: According to “those who know such things,” gasoline that includes a 15% mix of ethanol (such as NASCAR’s Sunoco racing fuel) provides 5% less energy, which leads to ever-so-slightly lower fuel mileage.
There are lists of pros and cons regarding ethanol, and enough cons that you see the occasional fillin’ station with non-ethanol pumps. The ethanol-free gas costs more per gallon, but it’s the go-to fuel for many folks who heavily rely on their internally combusted engines — “straight, no chaser,” they say.
Second Gear: William Byron makes a point, and points
When did this turn into one of Smokey Yunick’s old “Track Tech” columns in Circle Track?
Where were we?
Ah, William Byron. Billy the Kid has also regained the lead in the regular-season point standings, and that’s important because the leader at the 26-race mark earns 15 bonus points heading to the playoffs. And a neat trophy, by the way.
With three races left, he’s 18 points up on Chase Elliott and enjoys bigger cushions on third-place Kyle Larson (45) and fourth-place Denny Hamlin (51). Through 23 races last year, the point spread among the top four was just 21.
With 13 different winners so far and three regular-season races remaining, it’s still possible to get to 16 winners (that’s what we call math!).
Yeah, possible, you’re saying, but not likely. Probably not very likely, but not quite as unlikely as you might think, considering the next three weeks include a road course (AJ Allmendinger?) and the crapshoot at Daytona (Michael McDowell or Austin Dillon?).
Throw in a Richmond win, in two weeks, for a Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman or some other capable driver, and we might hit 16 for the first time in 12 years of this current playoff format.
Third Gear: Bristol and baseball a bad combo
You reckon they’re eager to play another ballgame at Bristol Motor Speedway?
Man, what a gauntlet of hurdles for that Braves-Reds game. And not all of them were weather-related. Yes, it would’ve been worse if they didn’t have a Sunday afternoon rain date, which was put in play after Saturday night was washed out.
But if you read the fan reviews, boy oh boy, some boxes weren’t properly checked ahead of time. Getting to and from the speedway’s “stadium seating” wasn’t without issues, and running out of certain food staples? That’s a tough look.
Some liked it.
Some didn’t.
The motive was noble and frankly worth the effort. They wanted to get MLB’s all-time largest crowd, but along the way may not have prepared for such. Some NHL brass was there to gauge the possibility of staging one of hockey’s annual outdoor games at the track.
Not sure of their reaction, but Saturday night’s infield looked like it’d been spritzed with a Zamboni.
Fourth Gear: Stewart Friesen on the mend
It’s not that we really needed a reminder, but Stewart Friesen gave us one anyway: Racing can be dangerous at times.
The NASCAR Truck Series racer was badly injured last week while moonlighting at a dirt-racing event in his native Canada. Friesen was driving a big-block dirt modified in the “King of the North” feature when he flipped wildly and was then crashed into by another car that had yet to slow.
Here’s a look. Buckle up.
You know how you sometimes hear about a pelvic fracture in the more violent highway wrecks? Well, Friesen suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis, along with a badly fractured leg. The only way you can call him lucky is to go watch that wreck — that’s when you know it could’ve been even worse.
Sometimes you hear or read about a Cup Series racer lobbying his team owner for permission to add some dirt-track sprint racing to his list of hobbies. Team owners often say no, yet sometimes oblige. Friesen’s wreck illustrates why it’s not an easy decision.
While safety in big-league stock-car racing has evolved greatly this century, there’s not as much meat on the bones of those modifieds. Safety headway has been made, which could explain Friesen’s clean CT scans on his head, neck and spine. But those cars aren’t bullet-proof.
By the way, word came over the weekend that Friesen had successful surgeries on both his pelvis and leg. Next up comes the healing and a slow-roll of physical therapy.
— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
