Week 14 GFT NASCAR AI Driver Rankings: Byron wins at Darlington and jumps to P1 in rankings

15 May 2023
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

DARLINGTON, SC — William Byron captures win 100 for the famed Hendrick Motorsports №24 car, taking advantage of a late on-track incident between Ross Chastain and Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson to take the victory in Sunday‘s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway and become the first three-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.

For Byron, the victory was redemption for last season’s spring race at the ‘Too Tough to Tame’ Darlington Raceway where Joey Logano‘s bump-and-run denied Byron the victory.

Race Stats:
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 23 Mins, 23 Secs
Average Speed: 118.88 MPH
Margin of Victory: .781 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 19, 24, 23, 1, 8, 6, 47, 4, 45, 20
Stage 2 Top 10: 1, 8, 5, 24, 6, 20, 4, 12, 47, 19

Week 14 NASCAR GFT Top 25 AI Driver Rankings following the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14, 2023 (Image: GFT Digital / gofullthrottle.net)

THE BIG MOVERS:
As is always the case with our algorithms, a win has significant weighting into the ranking and predictive calculations. The result of Byron’s win (and Chastain’s 29th place finish) is a 6 position jump to the top of the rankings. Also making big moves up: Bubba Wallace moves up 3 spots with his 5th place finish, and young Justin Haley also moves up 3 spots to P24- making his first appearance in GFT Top 25.

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — MAY 14: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Throwback Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14, 2023 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Week 14 GFT NASCAR Box Scores (Image: GFT Digital / gofullthrottle.net)

Manufacturer Wins: Chevrolet = 8, Toyota = 5, Ford = 3
Team Wins:
Hen = 5
JGR = 4
Pen = 2
RCR = 2
JTG = 1
SHR = 1
23XI = 1
TH = 0
RFK = 0
LGCY = 0

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — MAY 14: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Throwback Chevrolet, reacts after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14, 2023 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — MAY 14: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Throwback Chevrolet, celebrates with the trophy after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14, 2023 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Next Up — All-Star Weekend!

The Cup Series’ next race:
All-Star Race
May 21-May-23
TV FS1 8:00 p.m.
Radio MRN/SiriusXM14

All times Eastern / Dates and times subject to change / Check local listings.