[autotag]William Byron[/autotag] had a breakout season in 2023 and it resulted in a series-high six victories. Unfortunately for Byron, he wasn’t able to add a NASCAR Cup Series championship to his resume. Despite starting on the pole, the driver of the No. 24 car struggled to have the pace to match eventual champion Ryan Blaney as the race continued.
Byron finished in fourth place and ended up being third in the point standings. Following the event, Byron talked about coming up just short of his first Cup Series title and arguably being the favorite throughout the entire 2023 season.
“Once the track rubbered in, we got really tight,” Byron said. “Especially when we lost the lead on track, we just had a big balance shift and got tight back in second through fifth, just couldn’t gain a lot of speed through one and two, just kind of having to really over-slow the car, get it to the bottom. That’s all we had there.”
REPOST TO CONGRATULATE WILLIAM BYRON ON HIS WIN IN TEXAS! https://t.co/ml25zqOrH8 pic.twitter.com/zfJcNr1Xrt
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 24, 2023
“Just really proud of our Axalta team, great season. It stinks to come up short. I’d like to think we’re going to be back in this position and we’re going to have more shots at it. We just got to keep working on the short-track program for us. It was definitely the tough part of our season. I felt like we brought a good car this weekend. Really until the track kind of changed, I thought we were in the game.”
Byron can walk away from the 2023 NASCAR season feeling proud about what he accomplished. It was an incredible year for the No. 24 team and they should hold their heads high. The trophy may not have ended up in Byron’s hands; however, there is no doubt that he will be back on this stage again.
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