William Byron’s crew chief spills the beans after Ty Dillon crash at Las Vegas

William Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, explained what caused the crash between Byron and Ty Dillon during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a clip shared by SiriusXM Radio on X, Fugle says the wreck came down to poor communication between the teams, the drivers, and the spotters.

The crash ended what could have been a great race for William Byron. He had fought back after a near-spin earlier and was in position to challenge for the win.

Instead, his No. 24 Chevrolet slammed into the back of Ty Dillon’s car, ending his day and damaging his playoff hopes. In the video, Fugle said:

“There’s two things that can happen, and you know, that needs to happen on every one of those stops… maybe I’m old school and I’m a person that still doesn’t mind making a phone call… we all need to do our job of communicating better.” “But from a driver standpoint, there was no hand out the window,” he added.

He added that many drivers make a swerve or move low on the track to show they are about to pit, but Dillon didn’t do that. Fugle said Dillon could have entered pit road at a shallower angle to stay out of the way, but that didn’t happen.

Fugle also pointed out that Byron’s spotter, Brandon Lines, didn’t get the message in time. According to Fugle:

“The spotter stand didn’t get clear communication. Brandon our spotter didn't get clear communication.”

Accordingly, Lines realized something was wrong only when Byron was already in Turn 3. At that point, there was no time to react or warn him. Fugle said that when spotters take their eyes off the track, even for a second, it can lead to disaster.

William Byron’s playoff run took a major hit after he crashed into Ty Dillon during Stage 3 of the Las Vegas race. The collision destroyed Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and forced him out of the race with only 31 laps to go.

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“There was no indication from Ty that he was pitting”: William Byron reacts to the crash

In a separate interview, Byron said after the race that his spotter never told him Dillon was heading to pit road. He thought the final pit cycle of the race was already done.

As a result, he stayed at full speed and had no idea Dillon was slowing down. Byron’s car hit Dillon’s No. 10 Chevrolet hard from behind, taking both drivers out of the race. It was Byron’s fourth DNF of the 2025 season. Talking to PRN’s Brett McMillan, Byron said:

“I don't know what happened up there, but there was no indication from Ty that he was pitting from what I could tell. I had zero clue. It's pretty devastating right now. We will move past it and go to the next two weeks.”

William Byron had led 55 laps and was a top contender for the win before the crash. Denny Hamlin went on to win the race, followed by Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick.

Ty Dillon said he thought Byron’s team knew he was going to pit. Dillon said:

“Hate it for the Hendrick guys, hate it for Chevrolet that it had to happen that way. I’m just trying to hit my points and get on pit road. He (Byron) hit me hard, so it’s an unfortunate way for that to happen.”

William Byron’s next race will be the YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 19. The 188-lap event will be broadcast live on Peacock at 2 p.m. ET, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar