William Byron wins NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, S.C. — William Byron emerged from the smoke and thunder of the final laps and overtime and won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway.

Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson crashed while racing for the lead on a restart with six laps to go, leaving the lead to Byron.

Byron started the overtime restart in front of Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton.

As the green flag flew for the final time, Byron surged ahead of Harvick, led the final two laps and won relatively easy.

Nothing was easy about the final segment of the race, however, as a series of front-pack accidents jumbled the run order.

On a restart with 13 laps to go, third-place Joey Logano and fourth-place Martin Truex Jr. crashed, starting a multi-car incident and causing another caution. Chastain and Larson were side-by-side for the lead, and Chastain was pushed into the wall by Larson at almost the same time Truex lost control of his car.

Larson took the lead into the final 30 laps of the race after a long round of green-flag pit stops. Five laps later, he had a 1.7-second lead over Christopher Bell, with Chastain third and Kyle Busch fourth.

With 18 laps to go and Larson in front by about two seconds, Ryan Newman, making his return to Cup racing, hit the wall off Turn 4 and brought out a caution, bunching the field.

The final stage began with a nine-car crash on the backstretch on the first lap. The wreck was started by Erik Jones, who lost control after an apparent right-rear tire problem. Among those swept into the accident were Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez.

Chastain won the second stage in a tight battle with Truex Jr. Chastain had the lead on the last lap, and Truex moved to the inside to challenge in Turn 3. Chastain popped the outside wall and hit Truex, sending Truex into a slide.

Chastian recovered to finish first in the stage and was followed by Busch, Larson, Byron and Keselowski.

Truex led 89 of 90 laps in the first stage and led at the end of the stage. He was followed by Byron, Bubba Wallace, Chastain and Busch. There was only one caution during the stage.

Stage 1 winner: Martin Truex Jr.

Stage 2 winner: Ross Chastain

Who had a good race: William Byron scored his seventh career win after other contenders crashed over the closing laps. … Martin Truex Jr. won the pole and led most of the opening portion of the race before being involved in a crash late in the race. … Ross Chastain showed strength in the second stage on his way to challenging for his first win of the year. … Kyle Larson used a strong final stage to race in the front pack.

Who had a bad race: Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon parked after being involved in a nine-car crash at the start of the final stage. … Josh Berry, replacing the injured Alex Bowman, had a sour day, running several laps behind approaching the finish.

Next: Cup drivers move on to North Wilkesboro Speedway May 21 for the All-Star Open (5:30 p.m. ET) and the All-Star Race (8 p.m. ET). The next point race is the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway May 28 at 6 p.m. ET.