Byron, who won the first two stages and led 176 of 271 laps, lost the lead during a round of pit stops late in the race and it appeared his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson was going to cruise to the victory.
Aric Almirola’s spin and wreck on Lap 264 sent the race into a two-lap overtime. Martin Truex Jr. elected to remain on the track while Byron and Larson came out second and third, thanks to two-tire stops.
Byron powered past Truex entering Turn 3 with one lap remaining and held off Larson by 0.622 seconds to earn the win.
The victory is the fifth in Byron’s career and first of the 2023 season. With fellow Hendrick driver Alex Bowman ending up third, HMS claimed its third-ever 1-2-3 finish.
“Just been really confident about the group of guys that I have on this No. 24 team. They work extremely hard, and we spent a lot of time in the off-season just going through running at the sim with Chevy and running on iRacing and just trying to get better as a race car driver and as a team,” Byron said.
“It’s all about the team. It’s a great pit crew. Thinking of Chase (Elliott) back home. Wish he was out here with us. He's a great race car driver, great teammate. Wish he was out here, but thankful to (Rick Hendrick), Jeff Gordon.
“Honestly when we got back in traffic, it was a little bit tight, but we knew we had speed so we just had to have the right things play out, and Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) made a good call, so it was good.”
Bubba Wallace ended up fourth and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 were Austin Cindric, Truex, Justin Haley, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez.
Chevrolet drivers have now won the first three races of the season for the first time since the 2010 season.
JR Motorsports Xfinity Series driver Josh Berry, who substituted for the injured Elliott in Hendrick’s No. 9 car, ended up 29th and two laps down.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap cars all pit with Byron first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 174, Byron was followed by Larson, Bowman, Truex and Ross Chastain.
While running three-ride with Kyle Busch while exiting Turn 4 on Lap 183, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski made contact which sent Logano spinning down into the frontstretch grass to bring out a caution.
The damage on Logano’s No. 22 Penske Ford was too severe to repair and his race came to an early end.
“Considering how we’ve been here in the past, you kind of expect it a little bit more performance today than what we had. Just off on overall speed,” he said. “We had the balance somewhat close – just not fast. We have to go back to the drawing board for when we come back here.”
The lead-lap cars all pit with Hamlin the first off pit road thanks to a two-tire pit stop. Jones was forced to back up on pit road and return to his pit stall to tighten a loose lug nut.
On the restart on Lap 190, Hamlin was followed by Bowman, Byron, Truex and Harvick.
Larson got to the outside of Hamlin off Turn 4 on Lap 186 and finally cleared him to take the lead for the first time in the race.
On Lap 208, Bell – who had been running in the top-five – reported a “really bad vibration” in his No. 20 Toyota and fell off the pace.
Denny Hamlin and Bell kicked off a final round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 220 to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Noah Gragson was hit with his third pit road speeding penalty of the day during the stops and had to serve a pass-through down pit road.
Once the cycle of the stops was completed on Lap 228, Larson returned to the lead with a 1.8-second advantage over Hamlin. They were followed by Byron, Truex and Bowman.
With 35 laps remaining, Byron moved into the runner-up spot, 3.1 seconds behind Larson.
On Lap 264, Almirola spun and wrecked off Turn 4 to bring out the fourth caution of the race and send it into overtime.
Most of the lead-lap cars elected to pit but Truex stayed out and inherited the lead. Byron was first off pit road, thanks to a two-tire call.
TRUEX STAYS OUT.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 5, 2023
BYRON WINS THE RACE OFF PIT ROAD. pic.twitter.com/nNHFjimJ8J
To start the two-lap overtime, Truex was followed by Byron, Larson, Hamlin and Bowman.
Stage 2
Byron maintained his dominant performance, easily take the Stage 2 win over Larson.
Bowman was third, Truex fourth and Bell rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, the lead-lap cars all pit with Byron the first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 90, Byron was followed by Larson, Hamlin, Chastain and Truex.
Berry tagged the wall on Lap 95 but was able to remain on the track.
On Lap 106, Suarez made contact with Chris Buescher and shoved his No. 17 Ford into the wall. Buescher received some damage, but no caution was called.
With 50 laps remaining in the stage, Byron held a 3.2-second lead over Larson while Bowman moved into third.
Buescher and Ty Gibbs kicked off a round of green-flag pit stops on Lap 120 to take new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the stage.
Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 127, Byron remained in the followed by Larson and Bell.
With 10 laps to go in the stage, Byron remained out front followed by his teammates Larson and Bowman.
Stage 1
Byron cruised to a dominate Stage 1 win over Larson, leading 67 of the 80 laps.
Chastain was third, Bell fourth and Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Logano started on the pole and quickly cleared for the lead after the start.
On Lap 10, Byron went to the inside of Logano in Turn 4 and came away with the lead as Larson moved into second.
With 50 laps remaining in the stage, Byron maintained a 1.3-second lead over Larson as Chastain ran third.
Ryan Blaney made a green-flag pit stop on Lap 33 and Truex followed on Lap 34 to take new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the stage.
Gragson and Michael McDowell had to serve a pass-through penalties after both were penalized for speeding on pit road. Gibbs was had to serve a pass-through penalty for having too many crew members over the wall.
Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 41, Byron returned to the lead followed by Larson and Chastain.
Gragson was hit with a second pass-through penalty after he was caught speeding while serving his original penalty.
With 10 laps to go, Byron held a small but steady lead over his teammate Larson as Chastain remained in third, 6.2 seconds behind the leader.
