William Byron issues verdict on emotions after damaging high-speed Las Vegas wreck

Hendrick Motorsports star William Byron was left wondering what might have been following Sunday's Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Whilst the driver of the No. 24 already has a Daytona 500 victory under his belt this year, his ultimate goal for the season is to lift his first Cup Series championship at Phoenix next month. However, following a bizarre, race-ending and playoff-damaging wreck on lap 237 in Nevada on Sunday, Byron's title hopes are on the line.

Five laps earlier, on lap 232, Byron was leading the race and looking good to score big points, having also taken the victory in stage one.

But things were to take a dark turn, first losing the lead to Kyle Larson before the No. 24 smashing into the back of Ty Dillon's No. 10 Chevrolet just laps later after Dillon slowed down to enter pit road - something Byron wasn't aware was about to happen.

Byron explains bizarre Las Vegas wreck

As a result of the incident, Byron was classified as 36th in Sunday's official race results and took home just 19 points for the day.

This means that heading to Talladega - a superspeedway where quite literally anything can happen - Byron sits fifth in the playoff standings and 15 points below the cutoff line, needing a strong result and unable to afford being caught up in any major incidents that could result in an early trip to the garage.

What makes the above and the incident itself even more frustrating is that Dillon and his spotter both tried to make Byron and his team aware of what was going down, they claim.

Byron, though, was none the wiser, telling the media after the race: “If I would have known or had any indication, I would have hedged higher, and I just ran full speed into the back of him.

“That was a huge impact. I’m fine, I just had no indication.

"Even as [Dillon] was coming off the bottom, I thought he missed the bottom a little bit, and by the time he started slowing down, I was in the back of him.”

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Byron's post-Vegas emotions

Reflecting further on the wreck and his poor result, Byron issued an emotional verdict.

“I’m just bummed out,” the Hendrick Motorsports star explained. “You know that these opportunities are few, and we had a really good car today, in contention to win.

"Everything has to go right in the Round of 8, and that’s something major that went wrong that was out of our control.”

This was a feeling echoed by his crew chief, Rudy Fugle, who admitted the result was tough to take after the team had such a strong car out on the racetrack.

“We answered all the questions that everybody was waiting for us to answer,” he said

“We had a top-two car, probably the best car that could compete in traffic and do all the things.

"That’s what we’re looking to do. It’s tough to take having a great car and not [finishing] well.”

READ MORE: NASCAR penalties revealed as FOUR Cup Series drivers guilty of same offence at Las Vegas

NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after Las Vegas

Following Sunday afternoon's race at Las Vegas, here is how the playoff standings shape up in the Cup Series, with Byron in P5.

READ MORE: Three Cup Series champions at risk of being chopped from Championship 4

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