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NASCAR America: William Byron reflects on narrow loss in Michigan Xfinity race

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William Byron analyzes his narrow loss to Denny Hamlin in the Xfinity series at Michigan and discusses who has helped him the most in his development.

Xfinity Series rookie William Byron missed out on his first career win last weekend in the closest series finish at Michigan International Speedway since the advent of electronic scoring.

Three days later, the 19-year-old driver for JR Motorsports called into NASCAR America to talk about the win and the season to date.

“Knowing it was that close is good for us,” Byron said. “We’ll try and keep the confidence and momentum going.”

It was the best finish for Byron in his rookie season and Hamlin’s first Xfinity win of the year.

“Just knowing how Denny manipulated the side-draft and everything to work best for him, I think it was really good by him to do that and it shows why he’s a Cup veteran and really a star in the sport,” Byron said.

Byron has only been racing for a little more than five years, but he won a rookie record seven races in the Camping World Truck Series last year before advancing to the Xfinity Series. Byron got his start on the simulator platform iRacing.

“I think I was really lucky that it translated to a real car,” Byron said. “Really, I just wanted to be a fan and watch the sport as a kid. It was fortunate for me that it translated.”

Watch the above video for the full interview.