Byron ‘Really Proud” Of NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Title
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By Dennis Krause
It isn’t the year-end NASCAR Cup Series championship, but for William Byron, it’s still something to be really proud of.
Byron started the season with a second-consecutive win in the Daytona 500. The Hendrick Motorsports driver heads back to Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, with enough points to have clinched the Cup Series regular season championship with one race remaining before the playoffs get underway.
It’s not like Byron coasted to the title from the Daytona 500. Although never lower than second in the season-long standings, the 27-year-old retook the point lead with a win at Iowa Speedway two weeks ago to overhaul his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott and put the regular season championship out of reach with a 12th-place finish Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
“Yeah, pretty awesome. I think just finally some things went our way. I think honestly we’ve been doing a really good job on strategy, execution. We’ve brought good speed in August. I’d say our speed was the best in mid to late June.
“I would say in May we were super fast. Then June we were really fast. I crashed probably our best car at Pocono. Then July we just had some really bad finishes, really bad things happened to us. Ran out of fuel a couple times.
“I think we buckled down and really got back to the team we’re capable of being. Pretty impressive August probably. Probably our best August we’ve ever had just executing, thinking outside the box, bringing fast cars.”
The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet credits the strength of the team, lead by longtime crew chief, Rudy Fugle, for turning what had been an Achilles Heel for the team and turn it around with momentum heading into the playoffs.
“I think we knew within our team that we were different this year,” said Byron, “different towards the end of last year, just really kind of buckled down and started to make some really good moves, good decisions. I started driving the car pretty well.
“I think it all has kind of come together. So we had confidence, even when we lost the lead or whatever. Just kind of some random stuff, right? I spun out in qualifying. Cost us at Pocono. Chicago was a mess. Through all that stuff, we were fast, so…
“It’s kind of speed was always there. Feel like that’s always what you need. We’ve been able to make something out of the races where we don’t have as much speed, too.”
According to Byron, the momentum the team has been building isn’t something recent, but rather it goes all the way back to last year.
“Yeah, I think this was kind of building since the round of 12 last year. We really hit our stride and started to run really consistently well.
“Then this year it was kind of getting frustrating that we weren’t converting some of those things, but we were still doing a really good job. I think it’s kind of been building.
Probably I would say May was our strongest month. Darlington, then the 600 was really good. Yeah, I think we have just kind of been building it. Kind of strong on all fronts.
“We can always get faster. Hopefully these next few weeks we can work on that.”
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Not to be discounted is the relationship Byron and Fugle have developed over the last nine years, to when Byron started in the sport.
“I feel like our relationship has really evolved this year,” Byron acknowledged. “Like, I feel like we communicate to each other like we’re more on the same age. I feel like that has helped us just push each other.
“I think there’s a lot of accountability between the two of us. He holds me to a high standard of my prep during the week, what is expected of me, how I execute. Like, he can see. He can see the small details that maybe a lot of people can’t.
“I appreciate that. I appreciate that he can tell if I had a good qualifying lap or if I did little things with changes in my driving style. I think ‘accountability’ is probably the world. That’s the evolution of the relationship this year. I even do that sort of back to him on strategy decisions or whatever it is. I kind of want that clarity and that picture.
“We’ve evolved. We’ve worked together since I was 18. He was teaching me everything. I was just driving and executing. He was giving me that balance I needed.
“Now it’s like more of an equal footing. He’s just a great crew chief, works extremely hard. His work ethic is just incredible. He wants it more than anybody.”
While that driver/crew chief relationship can sometimes disintegrate over the years, the one between Byron and Fugle has remained strong because they both work at it.
“I think it’s just any relationship: you just keep working on it,” said Byron. “You just know that’s your person. Okay, that’s my guy. I’m just going to work with him. So we just sit down, we talk things out, we get better.
“I think we’ve had maybe two, three times this year where we’ve kind of sat down. I don’t remember exactly when the last one was. Sometime this summer. It just works. We kind of keep talking.
“He’s not as much of a talker as I am. I’m always the one initiating. He always gets it out. He’s just a great person.
“It’s fun to work with him. He’s got a lot going on. I think his son Blake just started playing high school football. I think he started on (last) Friday night. That was pretty cool. Hated that he missed that.
“Cool to work with him. Cool to work with all the guys on the team. We have a lot of good personalities. Pretty tight-knit group.”
With the regular season championship wrapped up, how does Bryon approach returning to Daytona?
“I think I’m going to have to figure out the game plan there, for sure. I mean, I only feel like I know one way, and that’s just to go as fast as I can. Going to try to really be up front, do all the things it takes to win the race, just knowing that that’s — the potential is there to be in a crash or whatever.
“You can’t really, like, drive around in bubble wrap. You just kind of got to go out there and do your job, try to get a good finish. Usually you crash more when you’re conservative.”
The 15 playoff points Bryon secured by winning the regular season title put him on par with Denny Hamlin and Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson going into the playoffs.
“Yeah, it’s huge,” conceded Byron. No one’s really pulled away in a sense. I feel like we’ve let some races slip where we could have gotten another five bonus points.
“All in all we’ve had a really good year, which shows in the stage wins, the amount of points we’ve had.
“I think the 11 (Hamlin) has been extremely fast all year. The 12 (Ryan Blaney) has been really fast. The 5 (Larson) has been really fast. There’s the 20 (Christopher Bell). There’s a number of guys that have been really quick throughout the year. No one’s running away with this thing, which is going to create a really crazy playoffs. Nothing we don’t expect to have.
“Just got to kind of close this chapter, enjoy it for a few days, because it’s something to celebrate. 25, 26 races that you have to perform. Really proud of that.”
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.