Will Darlington Finish Be Good For William Byron?

We haven’t seen much emotion from William Byron when he gets wronged on track…until Joey Logano did Joey Logano things at Darlington. How do you think the finish will affect him moving forward? – Chuck P., Charleston, South Carolina

Not that it makes William Byron feel any better now, nor did it in the days following Darlington Raceway, but I believe in 5-10 years time, both he and Hendrick Motorsports will look back at this finish, Joey Logano‘s move in the closing laps and Byron’s reaction post-race and it may mark a turning point in his development.

Although he’s been in the NASCAR Cup Series for a handful of years, he’s barely even started by industry standards. While most start racing in their elementary school years, Byron did so competitively much later (and on a computer … hello Rick Allen) before transitioning into legends cars, late models, the Camping World Truck Series, the Xfinity Series and eventually Cup.

He’s an extremely mild-mannered, calculated and calm driver. He’s pretty good too, as he sits tied with Ross Chastain for the most victories in the Cup Series this season. But this was really the first time he showed genuine anger, frustration and *gasp* profanity post-race.

That fire is good. I doubt anybody questioned Byron’s desire to win at all costs and ability to “turn it on” in crunch-time, but this proves that the fire is undoubtedly there. Running up front for wins with regularity means running around drivers that you haven’t necessarily competed against with regularity. That takes some getting used to.

Even though everybody and their mother knows Logano is one of (if not the) most aggressive drivers in the series, Byron was still miffed at the move. But as Jeff Gordon told him immediately after climbing out of the car, Byron owes Logano one now.

This really is the first time Byron was legitimately pissed. He’s been a clean and nice racer to this point, but we know if someone wants to take that “next…