William Byron discusses defeat in Championship 4 for second straight year

William Byron discusses his defeat in the Championship 4 at Phoenix for the second straight year. Find out what Byron said about his defeat!

William Byron’s entrance into the Championship 4 came with controversy at Martinville Speedway, and he tried to put it behind him at Phoenix Raceway this weekend. Unfortunately for Byron, the storybook ending for the No. 24 team wasn’t in the cards. Despite a great strategy call from crew chief Rudy Fugle, Byron’s No. 24 car didn’t have enough speed and finished third among the Championship 4 drivers.

Following the event, Byron climbed out of his No. 24 car for a second straight year with disappointment. The Hendrick Motorsports driver talked about coming up short to Team Penske at Phoenix for a second season in a row.

“We just needed a little bit more,” Byron said. “I felt like we gave it all we had, and that’s something to be proud of. We just didn’t have enough to go fight with the [Team Penske] guys. I could at times kind of inch up on them, but I felt like on the short and long run they were better, and mid portion of the run I’d be a little bit better. But [crew chief Rudy Fugle] made a great call. I was really proud of that. That was cool to give us a shot and give us a shot at the front row and ultimately netted out better. But yeah, just not quite enough.”

“But so proud of this team, AXALTA, Chevrolet, all of our partners. It’s been a great year to make the Championship 4 and win the 500 is awesome. I know what we need to work on, and we’ll go at it next year…Makes you hungrier, but also just more experience in what it takes. I feel like this style of track has been tough on us, and we made a lot of strides this year, but still more to go. If we can just kind of inch up on this style of track, I know we’re so good at all the other ones, and we can put it all together.”

It has been a crazy week and season for Byron, who hasn’t won a race since early April 2024 at Martinsville Speedway. Yet, it was also a successful year for Byron as he won the 2024 Daytona 500 in February. Now, the driver of the No. 24 car will look to rebound and finally claim the Cup Series championship at Phoenix in 2025.

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