Close call for William Byron in Darlington Cup practice: "Wake up"

No playoff drivers found trouble in practice at Darlington, but the regular season champion almost did

Early in practice for the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers, regular season champion William Byron was exiting Turn 2 when he encountered an unexpected roadblock.

Byron, who is tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the most points after the reset, was rapidly approaching Josh Berry and Chris Buescher as they exited the pits.

While Berry was a non-issue, Buescher kept coming up, merging onto the racing line directly in front of the No. 24 Chevrolet. Byron abruptly slowed to avoid contact, while Buescher moved out of the way the moment he realized what was happening.

"Holy sh*t," radioed Byron. "That was like 800 pounds of brake pressure not to (expletive) wreck everybody back there. Tell Herm to (expletive) wake up."

'Herm' in this situation refers to Buescher's spotter, Mike Herman Jr.

Other than that moment, there was no notable drama for any other playoff driver in practice, which took place very early in the morning at Darlington Raceway. The track opened for practice just after 9 a.m., EST.

Bubba Wallace was the fastest playoff driver over the course of a single lap, while Ross Chastain led the way in five and ten-lap averages. Byron emerged as the best driver in 15-lap and 20-lap averages, while 2023 series champion Ryan Blaney showed the best pace over 25-lap and 30-lap averages. His Penske teammate Austin Cindric was right there with him at the end of 30 laps.