William Byron, from Hendrick Motorsports ‘Other Guy’ to Daytona 500 Champion
Credit: DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
William Byron has a chip on his shoulder.
Even after winning Monday’s Daytona 500, that chip will likely remain.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll ever get that chip off my shoulder. It’s always been there. It’s just I’m very quiet about it. I don’t know. There’s always reasons to find. We didn’t win the championship, and we don’t get talked about the most, and other people get more publicity, things like that, and I feel like I just — whatever I find, I use as motivation.
“It’s just the way I’ve always been internally. I don’t express that a lot. But it definitely burns inside.
“I feel like that’s what fuels your off-seasons a lot of times is just what can I find, what little edge can I find to be the best. There’s still tons to learn. I can be a lot more complete in the car, and I feel like your race craft and things are always evolving, and just trying to be a better version inside the car with my team.”
Byron has two Cup Series champions for teammates at Hendrick Motorsports. Chase Elliott is the sport’s most popular driver and Kyle Larson is considered one of the world’s greatest talents. Byron admits to finding motivation in being the “other guy”.
“Yeah, I use it all as fuel, so just keep it coming. All the preseason predictions and everything.
“I think it, just for me, I just try to stay quietly focused. I feel like for me, I do well having my own space and being able to work through the things with my race team.
“I have to kind of balance that kind of calm demeanor with working with my team and being vocal enough to do the things we need to do to get the car better and things like that.
“I don’t know. I don’t read too much into it. I’m never going to be the most vocal guy. I just enjoy getting in the race car and putting the helmet on and going to work. That’s what I’ve always lived for.”
Credit: DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 19: William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning he NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Byron’s path to NASCAR’s Cup Series was unusual. He didn’t come from a racing family. Instead of go-karts and quarter midgets, he began racing on a computer. While others start racing before the age of ten, Byron didn’t sit in a real race car until age 14.
Despite his different career path, Byron was still considered a can’t miss prospect. He experienced success almost immediately every step of the way in the legends, trucks and Xfinity Series. While he won rookie of the year in the Cup Series in 2018, he didn’t have a breakthrough year until last season when he won a series high six races and placed third in the final standings.
Still, Byron admits to having doubts along the way.
“For sure. There’s a lot of doubt that creeps in. I feel like it goes back to me wondering if I’m right for this sport because I’m so — I came in in such a different way, and I feel like there’s a lot of things that I didn’t learn like going through go-karts and quarter midgets and all those things.
“So I kind of wonder sometimes, or did wonder, man, am I doing it right or do I have all the ingredients it takes. Definitely had to just learn, kind of just grow a little bit thicker skin to be in the Cup Series and learn what it takes each week. I feel like that took time. That took probably three and a half years to really get to that point.
“I think some of the people and relationships I had with Chad (Knaus, Hendrick Motorsports Vice President of Competition), he enforced that. I feel like he kind of brought me to the next level, just seeing how he operated and how he handled things.”
According to Byron, the passion, and maybe that chip on his shoulder, has been there from the beginning.
“Yeah, I mean, I’ve always been really raw throughout my career. I have a lot of undeveloped talent I guess you could say. I felt like speed was always easy for me. Making lap time by myself was always really easy and came natural, but racing around other cars and managing all those things has been tough.
“But it’s just come over time. I spent half my racing career in the Cup Series, which is crazy, but it’s just the way that my career trajectory kind of went. I think Mr. H always knew that putting me in the Cup Series would allow me to learn the things I needed to learn, and we’ve been able to see kind of the evolution of that with my team over the last year and a half.
“It’s pretty crazy. I just think back to the desire I had to compete and race, and that was unmatched I feel like from anyone else. I wanted it so bad because I never grew up around it, but it was something that I always loved.
“I think that desire has kind of always fueled me more than anything. I want it for no other reason than it’s just my passion.”
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