Byron, Fugle Upbeat Despite Missing Out on Perfect Race at Darlington

Andrew Coppley, HHP for Chevy Racing

A perfect race in the NASCAR Cup Series is one of the rarest achievements in sports. In the 76-year history of NASCAR's premier series, the feat has only been accomplished three times. The last time a driver led every lap in a NASCAR Cup Series event was 25 years ago when Jeff Burton led all 300 laps in the 2000 Dura Lube 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Aside from Burton, the legendary Cale Yarborough accomplished the feat twice in the 1970s. Yarborough led every lap at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1973, and did the same at Nashville in 1978.

Despite this being one of the rarest things to do as a driver in NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron found himself smack-dab in a quest to lead every lap in Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

The driver, who started from the pole position in a silver throwback paint scheme honoring Jeff Gordon's final race in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in 2015, took the green flag and quickly it appeared something special was taking place.

Byron led every lap of Stages 1 and 2, and at no point during the opening two Stages of the race did it appear that anyone had a car capable of contending for the win against the driver of the No. 24 machine. However, leading every lap of a race in NASCAR isn't just about having the best car, you have to have things fall your way from a luck standpoint, as well as from a strategic standpoint.

As Byron was approaching the final round of green flag pit stops in the Goodyear 400, drivers such as Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell began to short-pit in an effort to use fresher tires to produce enough of a net gain to pass Byron through the pit cycle.

But if Byron had any chance to lead the entire race, he would have to be the final car in the pit sequence to remain on track. After seeing the lap times that Reddick and Bell were turning on fresher tires, Fugle couldn't risk losing the race for the pursuit of leading every lap, and he called Byron to pit road four laps after his competitors on Lap 244, which handed the lead to Denny Hamlin.

Byron's dominant stretch in front of the field was officially interrupted, and his hopes of becoming just the third driver to ever lead every lap in a NASCAR Cup Series race were over. Still, Byron had a race to try to win, and his chance to win rested on where he shook out on the green flag pit sequence.

“I really liked where we were," Fugle said after the race. "I felt like we had all the information we needed, and like I said, we know that Tyler [Reddick] was going to beat us, but with four lap fresher [tires], and if we come out where we’re supposed to come out, I think it goes really well, it just didn’t work out. That’s just racing. Everything goes down to that execution and the way things go, and the No. 20 executed really well, and it is what it is. It’s tough to lead every lap here.”

As the sequence finished up, Byron found himself trapped behind Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick on the track and as the laps began to click off, Byron found himself being passed by Ryan Blaney and Hamlin, who had fresher tires. It was apparent Byron, the race's dominant driver, had lost the race based on strategic calls on the final run of the race.

RELATED: Final Pit Stop Nets Denny Hamlin Lead, Second Consecutive Win
RESULTS: Goodyear 400 at Darlington

Despite what resulted in a disappointing second place finish on one of the most dominant afternoons in the history of Darlington Raceway, Byron held his head high, and said aggressive strategy by others led to him losing control of the race.

“First off, team did a great job, great car, we just needed control of the race there under green, and we lost that with the sequence the No. 45 went really short, you know, we lost a few spots under the green-flag sequence and that was the difference," Byron said.

Byron continued, “I feel like we were in position to have a perfect race and that would have been pretty damn impressive. I mean, it sucks but nobody’s at fault, those guys could be aggressive on the other side of us, and this is turning into a big strategy place, and we just couldn’t keep control,” Byron explained.

After the eighth race of the season, Byron has just one win, which came in the season-opening Daytona 500. Last season, Byron collected three wins through the opening eight races. Despite the win column not showing it, Fugle feels that the No. 24 team is ahead of pace from a season ago.

“We don’t have the wins, but we’re stronger," Fugle stated. "Last year, we kind of got ourselves in the right position and won some races, and we didn’t lead a lot of laps. I feel like we’ve been faster, we’ve been executing better, and we’re stronger as a team, so I like where we’re setting up to be.”

Fugle makes a great point about the No. 24 team being stronger this season than they were last year as Byron heads into this weekend's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway with a 49-point lead in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season standings.

While Fugle and Byron refuse to celebrate unless they are winning races, they can take solace in the fact that Byron's 243 laps led to start Sunday's race at Darlington are the most consecutive laps led to begin a race in the Next Gen era of the NASCAR Cup Series, and it's the most laps led consecutively all-time in a NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington.

What the No. 24 team achieved on Sunday was truly special, despite it not being an official perfect race. For Fugle, it's really fun unloading the cars from the trailer each weekend knowing they have a chance to legitimately contend for wins week-in and week-out.

“Yeah, I think we just like the fact that we’re running well and doing the right things, but if you don’t have the win it’s not like there is anything to celebrate, but we just celebrate the fact that we have a strong team and it’s fun going to the racetrack, right now,” Fugle said.