Tag: William Byron

Byron leads home dream Hendrick anniversary win at Martinsville

William Byron has a penchant for milestones, and in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, he got another. Last year Byron picked up the 300th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway. On Sunday, in a race …

William Byron has a penchant for milestones, and in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, he got another.

Last year Byron picked up the 300th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, in a race that went to overtime, Byron led an unprecedented 1-2-3 finish for owner Rick Hendrick at the 0.526-mile short track, as the organization celebrated its 40th anniversary in NASCAR’s premier division.

In front of a throng of employees and supporters gathered in tents overlooking Turn 2, Hendrick became the only organization to sweep the podium positions in a Cup race at Martinsville. Byron’s victory was the 29th for Hendrick Motorsports at the track, most for an organization at a single NASCAR venue.

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“Just so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” Byron said. “Grew up a big Hendrick fan. To be here for the 40th anniversary, all that goes into just this organization, all the people, it’s all about the people. Just want to thank Mr. Hendrick and (wife) Linda and everyone involved.

“It’s pretty awesome…to win at Martinsville. We’ve been struggling at the short tracks. Just kept inching up on it. I’ve got a great team. They just kept my head in it. It stunk to do a restart there at the end like that, but that’s the way it goes.”

An early green-flag pit stop proved the difference for the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet, who earned his third victory of the season, his second at Martinsville and the 13th of his career.

With Denny Hamlin in the lead, crew chief Rudy Fugle called Byron to pit road on lap 297 as the first of the lead-lap drivers to get fuel and fresh tires. Hendrick teammates Kyle Larson, the pole winner, and Chase Elliott followed a lap later.

The early stops allowed the Hendrick drivers to leap-frog Hamlin, who pitted on lap 299 and could not advance past the fourth position before caution for John Hunter Nemechek’s accident in Turn 4 on lap 398 of 400 sent the event to overtime.

On lap 310, Byron passed Elliott for the ninth position, and as the drivers ahead of him made pit stops, he worked his way forward, passing Daniel Suarez for the lead on lap 327 before Suarez came to pit road.

Byron led the next 86 laps, and after Elliott was credited with leading lap 413 at the overtime restart, Byron surged ahead for the final two circuits and crossed the finish line 0.550s ahead of Larson.

“Congrats to William,” said Larson, who won the first 80-lap stage wire-to-wire. “He did a really good job. Kind of schooled us all there after that green flag stop. Did a really good job passing all of us. He was able to set a good pace, still get through traffic good.

“My car felt really good. I think we were all kind of the same speed, honestly. Just lost a little bit of track position there in the second stage. Was never able to overcome it.”

Byron held a lead of more than 2s before the fifth and final caution of the race. On the overtime restart, he survived a bump from Elliott, who slipped to third behind Larson at the finish.

Bubba Wallace ran fourth, followed by reigning series champion Ryan Blaney. Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe completed the top 10. Hamlin pitted for fresh tires before the overtime, restarted 10th and came home 11th.

“We were just trying to do anything we could to steal one with our Sport Clips Toyota,” Hamlin said. “The tires didn’t wear enough to matter. We saw that when Joey (Logano) stayed out on those 80-lap lefts and led most of the [second] stage.

“Tires didn’t wear, and we just struggled to pass all day. Once I came out of that cycle, third or fourth, that’s kind of just where I stayed.”

Larson, who led 86 laps, took over the series lead by 14 points over Martin Truex Jr., who finished 18th on Sunday, and by 17 over Hamlin.

The only negative aspect of the Hendrick party was the absence of the team owner, who underwent knee replacement surgery and couldn’t attend. But NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon was there to serve as grand marshal and represent the organization.

“These guys, these three guys, as well as Bowman, they drove their butts off,” Gordon said. “How about that William Byron, the No. 24 car? Every time we have a milestone day or opportunity or moment, he steps up.

“He got number 300. This is going to be a huge win for him and the whole organization.”

RESULTS

William Byron wins Cup Series race at Martinsville, full results and race recap

William Byron wins the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Check out the full results, race recap from Martinsville!

NASCAR arrived at Martinsville Speedway, and Hendrick Motorsports was the story of the day. All four Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets were in red, and over a thousand employees were present. Despite a late-race caution due to John Hunter Nemechek, the organization still found itself in victory lane at the end of the day.

[autotag]William Byron[/autotag] won the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville for his third victory of the 2024 season. On the final restart, Byron held Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson off, while Denny Hamlin was the only one in the top 5 spots to come down pit road. The driver of the No. 24 car is the only competitor with more than two victories to start the season.

The Hendrick Motorsports camp showed a lot of speed on Sunday, and if it continues moving forward, it will be tough to beat them. For now, Byron has established himself as the main championship favorite after having the best car at Martinsville.

Cook Out 400 finishing order:

  1. No. 24 William Byron
  2. No. 5 Kyle Larson
  3. No. 9 Chase Elliott
  4. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  5. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
  6. No. 22 Joey Logano
  7. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
  8. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  9. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  10. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
  11. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
  12. No. 43 Erik Jones
  13. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  14. No, 1 Ross Chastain
  15. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  16. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  17. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
  18. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  19. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
  20. No. 10 Noah Gragson
  21. No. 34 Michael McDowell
  22. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  23. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  24. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  25. No. 4 Josh Berry
  26. No. 15 Kaz Grala
  27. No. 16 Josh Williams
  28. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
  29. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  30. No. 51 Justin Haley
  31. No. 71 Zane Smith
  32. No. 7 Corey LaJoie
  33. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  34. No. 3 Austin Dillon
  35. No. 20 Christopher Bell
  36. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
  37. No. 66 David Starr

William Byron talks about dominant victory at COTA in 2024

William Byron talks about his dominant victory at Circuit of the Americas in 2024. Find out what Byron had to say about the win!

[autotag]William Byron[/autotag] won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas, and the past suggested this wasn’t good. Byron had 12 pole positions before this weekend and didn’t win any of those races. However, that changed on Sunday when the driver of the No. 24 car held off a hard-charging Christopher Bell for the victory.

After the event, Byron climbed out of his No. 24 car and talked about his dominant victory. In 2024, the Hendrick Motorsports driver became the first competitor with more than one win in the Cup Series.

“Yeah, I feel like I made a lot of mistakes in the last 10 laps,” Byron said.
“Just little micro errors. [Christopher Bell] was really fast there on the longer runs. But this sport is just so hard. It’s so difficult to week in and week out show up and have fast cars.”

“We’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch the last few weeks, but put a lot of prep work in this week, and just thankful for the team I have around me, all the people back home as well. Joanne, who helps me and Ken who is here today, Max. All those guys play an integral role in preparing. Just super thankful for having this opportunity and Raptor, Chevrolet, Valvoline, Liberty University, all of our partners, Hendrick Cars. It’s just a lot of fun to win races, and it’s really difficult. We’re going to enjoy this one.”

Byron has won two of the last three road course events in the Cup Series. He could be chasing the crown as NASCAR’s “road course king,” but seeing how he runs moving forward will be interesting. Byron is the first driver to two wins in 2024 and won’t be slowing down. If everything goes right, seeing two in a row at Richmond Raceway this weekend wouldn’t be shocking.

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Byron, Fugle focused on early season points grab

William Byron became the first repeat winner of the NASCAR Cup series season on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, putting more points in the bank for the postseason. “I feel like it kind of ebbs and flows,” Byron said. “We’re on a good flow right …

William Byron became the first repeat winner of the NASCAR Cup series season on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, putting more points in the bank for the postseason.

“I feel like it kind of ebbs and flows,” Byron said. “We’re on a good flow right now in some ways. In the win category. I’d like to finish better on the off days, too. I’m working on that every week. There are a few guys in the series – Chase [Elliott] does a really good job when he doesn’t have the day he wants and he still finishes well.

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“I’m still trying to look at those days and how I can improve, like last week (at Bristol). But I feel like the ups are up right now, and we just got to keep it going.”

Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team have two victories and 10 playoff points and it’s been validation for the work done in the offseason to start the year in the right direction.

“Any time you can collect some points, playoff points, early in the year, confidence, all those things, you just got to do it,” Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle said. “This is the process. We work really hard during the offseason and prepare for this first chunk of races, and it proves that what we’re doing is correct. So, anytime you can get momentum going and get the team fired up, get everybody fired up. There’s going to be plenty of ups and downs this year, so anytime you can get them, you got to grab them.”

A strong regular season in 2023 had Byron tied for the No. 1 seed going into the postseason with Martin Truex Jr. Both had 36 playoff points, but of the two, Byron made the Championship 4 after winning a career-high six races last season.

Sunday’s victory at Circuit of the Americas made it three consecutive years that Byron has won twice in the first 10 races, and 10 of his 12 career victories have come in his last 78 starts.

“I just feel like it reaffirms that the process that I’m doing during the week is correct,” Byron said. “So, if I do those things that I know are right and the people around me are there to help me do those things and keep the ship kind of going, I know that stuff works. I have a great team. I think when I’m able to plug into what we’re doing as a whole, Rudy and I are able to have conversations during the week, and I get to a place where I feel confident, all that stuff clicks.

“The sport’s really hard. It’s very easy to get caught up in all the moving parts and all the different challenges. But I just know that if I do what is normal for me, it’s good.”

Despite the victories, the ebbs and flows have been easy to see, as Byron is sixth in the championship standings with three top-10 finishes. He finished 17th at Atlanta Motor Speedway after Michael McDowell collided with him coming to pit road. The team also stumbled at Phoenix Raceway and had a dismal day at Bristol Motor Speedway after damaging the right rear toe link.

Circuit of the Americas was a needed confidence booster, especially when looking at the next two races on the calendar. Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway have been weak spots for the team, and Fugle was quick to pivot to those after Sunday’s triumph.

“The next two are circled big time,” Fugle said. “We talked about it, there’s different types of wins. We’re going to shoot for the stars, but we’re going to get a win out of the next two weeks one way or another. It doesn’t have to be a victory or a trophy.

“But we have not been good at Richmond, we have not been good at Martinsville and we need to be. Right away. That’s all we’re focused on right now.”

William Byron wins Cup Series race at COTA, full results and race recap

William Byron wins the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas. Check out the full results, race recap from COTA!

NASCAR entered Circuit of the Americas looking to put on a show in the sport’s first road course event of the season, which went reasonably well. Christopher Bell won Stage 1 while Denny Hamlin won Stage 2; however, a Hendrick Motorsports driver powered by Chevrolet dominated en route to victory lane.

[autotag]William Byron[/autotag] won the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas after leading the most laps. In the final stint of the event, Byron held off a hard-charging Bell, who appeared to have the best car at the end. This was due to fresh tires by almost five laps, but Byron had just enough speed and time to hold Bell off.

The driver of the No. 24 car is the first competitor to win more than once in the Cup Series this season, and he flexed his muscles with this victory. Byron arguably had the best car, strategy, and tire management. It might be Byron’s best win of his career, and that’s scary for the competition.

EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix finishing order:

  1. No. 24 William Byron
  2. No. 20 Christopher Bell
  3. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
  4. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  5. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
  6. No. 13 A.J. Allmendinger
  7. No. 1 Ross Chastain
  8. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  9. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  10. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  11. No. 22 Joey Logano
  12. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
  13. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
  14. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
  15. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  16. No. 9 Chase Elliott
  17. No. 51 Justin Haley
  18. No. 5 Kyle Larson
  19. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  20. No. 71 Zane Smith
  21. No. 16 Shane van Gisbergen
  22. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
  23. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
  24. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  25. No. 7 Corey LaJoie
  26. No. 3 Austin Dillon
  27. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  28. No. 15 Kaz Grala
  29. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  30. No. 50 Kamui Kobayashi
  31. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  32. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  33. No. 43 Erik Jones
  34. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  35. No. 10 Noah Gragson
  36. No. 4 Josh Berry
  37. No. 66 Timmy Hill
  38. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
  39. No. 34 Michael McDowell

Byron caps off dominant weekend with controlled COTA victory

William Byron proved untouchable at Circuit of The Americas as he capped off a dominant weekend with a victory Sunday afternoon. The No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports was the fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying, and …

William Byron proved untouchable at Circuit of The Americas as he capped off a dominant weekend with a victory Sunday afternoon.

The No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports was the fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying, and Byron led the most laps in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (42 of 68). He crossed the finish line 0.69s ahead of Christopher Bell after leading the final 18 laps once cycling back to the race lead after green flag pit stops.

 

“I feel like I made a lot of mistakes in the last 10 laps — just little micro errors,” Byron said. “Christopher [Bell] was really fast there on the longer runs, but this sport is just so hard. It’s so difficult to week-in and week-out show up and have fast cars.

“We’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch the last few weeks, but put a lot of prep work in this week and just thankful for the team I have around me, all the people back home as well. … It’s just a lot of fun to win races, and it’s really difficult. We’re going to enjoy this one.”

It’s Byron’s second victory after claiming the season-opening Daytona 500. He’s also won two of the last three road course races in the series.

Byron made his final green flag pit stop with 24 laps to go, giving up the race lead in doing so. Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain followed Byron down pit road, and a fast pit stop from his Hendrick Motorsports pit crew kept him ahead of the competition.

The pit cycle ended with 18 laps to go when Martin Truex Jr. gave the race lead back to Byron. Once back out front, he had a gap of 1.8s on teammate Alex Bowman, followed by Gibbs in third place.

Bell cycled out sixth. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team called Bell to pit road for the final time with 20 laps to go, and he came from over 9s behind to hunt down Byron.

Bell won the first stage.

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“Obviously, once I got to him it was going to be tough to pass him,” Bell said of chasing Byron. “Just needed a couple of mistakes. William has been really, really good on the road courses, and he was flawless when it mattered today.”

Gibbs finished third, Bowman, fourth and Tyler Reddick, fifth. AJ Allmendinger finished sixth, Chastain, seventh and Chris Buescher, eighth.

Kyle Busch finished ninth. He recovered from being spun by Bell earlier in the day and confronted his former teammate about the contact after the race.

Truex finished 10th. He led two laps during the pit cycle.

Bubba Wallace finished 15th in a hard-fought day for his 23XI Racing team. Wallace was collected in a lap one incident when Corey LaJoie went wide off the corner and came back onto the racing surface, colliding with Truex and Wallace. Wallace had to pit from the contact and needed additional repairs when given the chance under the stage break.

Denny Hamlin, who won the second stage, finished 14th. Chase Elliott finished 16th. Elliott was called for cutting the course on lap 38 and then spun with 11 laps to go.

Shane van Gisbergen finished 21st and Kamui Kobayashi finished 30th. As in his debut last year in Indianapolis, Kobayashi was spun twice throughout the afternoon.

There were 11 lead changes among seven drivers. NASCAR threw the caution flag twice Sunday, both for stage breaks.

RESULTS

Byron edges Gibbs to Cup pole at COTA

William Byron earned the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas with a lap of 94.696mph (129.636s) Saturday afternoon – his second pole at the Texas circuit. Five of his 13 career poles in the Cup Series have been on a road …

William Byron earned the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas with a lap of 94.696mph (129.636s) Saturday afternoon — his second pole at the Texas circuit. Five of his 13 career poles in the Cup Series have been on a road course.

Ty Gibbs qualified second at 94.685mph. Gibbs was on a flying lap as the session came to a close but slipped at the end of his lap and missed taking the pole.

Tyler Reddick qualified third (94.565mph) and is the defending race winner.

Christopher Bell qualified fourth (94.482mph) and Corey LaJoie, fifth (94.096mph). It was a career-best qualifying effort for LaJoie, who will start inside the top five for the first time.

Ross Chastain qualified sixth (94.949mph), Martin Truex Jr., seventh (93.773mph), Denny Hamlin, eighth (93.604mph), Chase Elliott, ninth (93.420mph) and Bubba Wallace, 10th (85.505mph).

Wallace spun on his qualifying lap in the final round.

No Ford drivers made the cut into the final round. Austin Cindric was the highest-qualifying Ford driver in 11th.

Shane van Gisbergen qualified 12th. AJ Allmendinger qualified 14th. Both are in Kaulig Racing entries this weekend.

Kamui Kobayashi qualified 25th for his second Cup Series start.

NEXT: The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

RESULTS

Byron tops COTA Cup practice

William Byron led Saturday’s extended NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Circuit of The Americas at 94.703mph (129.626s). Byron jumped to the top of the leaderboard as the session drew to a close. Cup Series teams were given a total of 40 minutes …

William Byron led Saturday’s extended NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Circuit of The Americas at 94.703mph (129.626s).

Byron jumped to the top of the leaderboard as the session drew to a close. Cup Series teams were given a total of 40 minutes on track (split into two 20-minute sessions) since COTA is the first road course race of the season and has the new rules package that debuted at Phoenix Raceway.

Ty Gibbs was second fastest in practice at 94.681mph. Alex Bowman was third fastest (94.416mph), Bubba Wallace was fourth (94.260mph), and Christopher Bell fifth (94.226mph).

Kyle Busch was sixth fastest (94.132mph), Ross Chastain was seventh (94.129mph) and Kamui Kobayashi, in a third entry for 23XI Racing, was eighth fastest (94.021mph). Kyle Larson (93.980mph) and Shane van Gisbergen (93.947mph) completed the top 10.

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Busch was one of six drivers who spun in practice. However, they were all single-car spins without contact.

The defending race winner, Tyler Reddick, was 12th fastest in practice. Reddick’s fastest lap was 93.790mph.

AJ Allmendinger was 17th fastest in practice. Allmendinger’s fastest lap was 93.582mph.

Chase Elliott was 20th in practice. Other notable drivers further down the speed chart were Ryan Preece (22nd), Noah Gragson (23rd), Michael McDowell (26th), and Brad Keselowski (30th).

Denny Hamlin was 33rd in practice, Josh Berry 36th and Erik Jones 37th.

There are 39 drivers entered in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

No driver ran 10 consecutive laps in practice.

Relay Payment holding fan vote for William Byron’s new paint scheme

Relay Payment is holding a fan vote to determine William Byron’s new paint scheme in 2024. Vote for your favorite of the four paint schemes!

Relay Payment will sponsor [autotag]William Byron[/autotag] and the No. 24 team in two races this season. Byron will carry Relay Payment at the Chicago Street Course on July 7 and the opening race of the playoffs at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8. However, fans of Byron and the No. 24 car can establish their favorite paint scheme.

In 2024, Relay Payment is holding a fan vote to determine which paint scheme Byron will run with the No. 24 car. The Hendrick Motorsports driver competed in a white car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2023, the last time Relay Payment sponsored him. Now, the fans will determine his paint scheme for Chicago and Atlanta.

All four paint scheme options are very good, and fans will be pleased to see that any choice will look excellent on the race track. Byron’s new Relay Payment paint scheme can be voted for at this link. It will be fascinating to see which paint scheme wins, as all four represent good options for the No. 24 car.

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William Byron had a beer can ‘stuck’ in his air filter at Las Vegas

William Byron’s car had a beer can “stuck” in its air filter at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, according to crew chief Rudy Fugle.

[autotag]William Byron[/autotag] arguably had a top-3 car that could have competed with Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; however, he never got a proper chance due to a trash bag. In Stage 1, Byron’s nose was covered with a trash bag, and he was forced to pit due to high temperatures. Yet, that wasn’t the most surprising discovery for Byron.

According to Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the No. 24 team found a beer can stuck in the air filter following the race at Las Vegas. Fugle was “pretty positive” the beer can was inside the trash bag due to the air filter’s status. It is a crazy story that got crazier for Byron after Las Vegas.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver somehow recovered from his trash bag and beer can incident for a 10th-place finish. Byron had the speed to contend, and if not for the trash bag and beer can, he might’ve won the event. Either way, Byron will look to avoid a trash bag at Phoenix Raceway after winning the spring race during the 2023 NASCAR season.

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