"Sometimes it’s just not your day" - HMS' William Byron explains the real cause of Sonoma wreck

William Byron had a dismal Toyota Save Mart 350 race at Sonoma Raceway. Despite starting the race in sixth position, the Hendricks Motorsports star finished in 30th position.

Byron had a great start at the Sonoma Raceway weekend. With close to 50 minutes in practice sessions on Friday and a decent qualifying session on Saturday, he managed to grab sixth position for Sunday's race. Byron had a decent start on race day. However, after the first restart on lap 7, the North Carolina-based racer felt the race car getting loose on the rear end.

At the pit stop under the caution flag, the team identified a flat rear right tire as the problem. With all tires replaced and the car refueled, Byron joined the pack at 24th position. He moved up to 12th place by lap 31. However, things took a drastic turn on turn 11, where a multi-car collision led to a broken toe link for Byron.

Although his team repaired the car, Byron found it difficult to climb back. The #24 driver ended the day in the 30th position. After the race, Byron wrote the following heartfelt post on X:

"Not the day we strive to have yesterday. Hole in the RR tire caused a slow leak at lap 12, our team did a great job with strategy to put us back in a spot to compete from and got caught in that wreck in T11. Sometimes it’s just not your day. We’ll prep and get ready for."

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Here's a brief look at William Byron's 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season so far

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports' star driver, finished his 2023 season on a high note. He grabbed third position in the Playoffs finale. Aiming to replicate the success of last year, the HMS driver began his 2024 NASCAR Cup Series with a positive mindset.

Of the first five races, Byron finished three in the Top 10s (10th in Busch Light Clash, eighth in Duel 2 at Daytona, and 10th in Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and won at Daytona International Speedway. Since then, Byron won two more races at Circuit of The Americas and Martinsville Speedway.

In the 16 races so far, the North Carolina-based driver has managed to finish nine times in the Top 10s and five times in the Top 5s, amassing a total of 495 points. Byron is currently in sixth position and has secured his place in this year's Playoffs, with three race wins and one stage win so far.

Although the Sonoma Raceway result has been a setback for Byron, he is now focused on getting a better outcome at the upcoming Iowa Corn 350 Powered By Ethanol at Iowa Speedway on June 16th, 2024 at 7:00 pm E.T.