NASCAR driver William Byron goes into the Pennzoil 400 Cup Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the leader of the championship, with Christopher Bell trailing him in P2. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be looking to equal Jimmie Johnson's record of four straight wins. However, that doesn't distract the Hendrick Motorsports driver from his goal for the weekend.
Byron is the only driver other than Bell who's won a race in the first four races of the 2025 Cup Series season. Fans are hyped about the prospect of the JGR driver earning his fourth consecutive win, and a reporter asked Byron about the same. However, the championship leader wasn't bothered by Bell’s performance and instead chose to focus on his team.
Frontstretch uploaded William Byron's pre-race interview on YouTube, where he was asked whether he felt he could stop Christopher Bell. The HMS driver replied:
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“Well just continue, you know, sort of bringing the speed that we've had. I mean that's all you can do and I don't really, it's easy for you guys to worry about the outside but I feel like for me it's just trying to worry about our team and what we can do better.” (2:40 onwards)
“So yeah, I thought last week we weren't quite as good as we needed to be but still in the mix and I think this week, you know we should be good again. So just got to put the whole weekend together and that's all that's all I'm really focused on. Those guys have obviously been on a great streak and they'll I'm sure they'll be ready to, you know, have another great race this weekend too,” William Byron added.
Christopher Bell had an average qualifying session and was set to start the race from P13 before he took the penalty for changing the throttle body on the car. As a result, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will now start from the back of the grid. However, all of Bell’s wins so far this year have come from starts outside the Top 10.
Christopher Bell hails NASCAR’s points system amid the championship fight with William Byron
William Byron currently leads the Cup Series championship with 165 points despite winning only one race compared to Christopher Bell’s three. This is because while Byron has qualified well so far and scored big stage points, the JGR driver has not and, hence, is P2 in the championship.
Byron has 45 stage points to his name, while Bell only has 26. Nonetheless, the latter hailed NASCAR’s unique points system as he said:
“I genuinely think that the points format is really cool the way that it is because it rewards running well throughout the entire race. I’ve gotten great finishes and won the races. But at Atlanta, I led one lap, and at COTA, I led nine laps. The car that I’m racing – William Bryon – has scored more stage points than me. I’m content with the point system and understand the reason why I’m not leading the points is because I haven’t scored stage points,” he said (02:28 onwards).
William Byron starts the Pennzoil 400 in P8 with teammate Kyle Larson behind him in P10. Christopher Bell starts on P29 after the penalty.
