William Byron warns desperation mentality will lead to "early wrecks" at Daytona

Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron has revealed that he doesn't "understand the mentality" of desperation from other drivers fighting for a spot in the playoffs.

The NASCAR Cup Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway marks the end of the regular season, meaning drivers who have yet to secure a spot in the playoffs have one final opportunity to do so. 

Byron has already secured the regular season title and currently sits fifth in the playoff picture. While he is safe heading into the Daytona race weekend, he confirmed that he will be able to "feel the energy" of those in the field fighting for the win in the last 20-30 laps of the race.

Drivers, including Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger, have spoken about having a 'desperation mentality' for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which Byron argued can lead to "desperate moves" and early wrecks.

“Yeah. I think this race, you can feel it with about 20 to 30 laps to go. You can just feel the energy. I just don't understand the mentality - like I understand the mentality, but I don't see a lot of people making better decisions being desperate," Byron explained.

"You know what I mean? Like I think the best decisions come from having the right thought process to get yourself to the end of the race and see the chequered flag. I think a lot of times, you see desperate moves with 10-15 laps to go and it's just like - man, just get to the end of the race first.

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

"But I think there's definitely a lot of that throughout the field. For us, we can go out there and race freely and not really have to worry too much about the outcome. And I think in some ways, the guys that can do that are going to be able to have a freer mindset out there. But yeah, there's definitely a lot of desperation throughout the field that I think causes probably some early wrecks that probably don't need to happen.

"I don't know, maybe it'll be different this year. Maybe guys kind of figured that cadence out a bit. I know when we won the race here in 2020, it was we were fighting with Jimmie and Matt DiBenedetto, and really what freed us up to go and get the win was just that we were in a good spot on points and then we just went out there and executed the final restart. But yeah, I think you'll see a lot of different moves out there, for sure.”