LAS VEGAS, Nev. – When William Byron won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the spring, it might have been premature to consider the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet the championship favorite.
Now, with six wins and a 20-point margin above the cut line for the Championship 4, it would be hard to consider anyone else.
Winning both stages, leading 176 of 271 laps and earning max points at the 1.5-mile oval in March certainly made a statement. The following week, Byron went to Phoenix Raceway—site of the Championship 4 race—and won again.
“I think the blueprint is there for success,” Byron said. “But the thing I always caution of is that things change and evolve, and teams and drivers improve. So we have to kind of take that next step at all of these race tracks coming up.
“But yeah, it’s nice to have a blueprint of, ‘Hey, we’ve been here before…we’ve been fast. We kind of know what balance is achievable and what we want to have in our car, but getting there is definitely a different challenge. Yeah, I don’t maybe look at it that much, but it is nice to know and have that comfort that I know how to get around these tracks.”
At 25, Byron is the youngest driver in the Round of 8. He made the final eight for the second time in his sixth full season on the tour, joining champions such as his teammate Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr., as well has perennial Playoff contender Denny Hamlin. Still, the competition doesn’t seem to faze the young driver, who leads the series in wins and top-10 finishes with 18.
“We’ve put a lot of work into getting to this point,” Byron said. “I feel like it’s just been a slow evolution and process to get to this spot. I don’t reflect a whole lot, but I am proud of the work that we’ve put in and the fact that we’ve got our race team to where it is.
“Now is a good chance to show all that we’ve done to this point. I’m excited for it. I still have a lot of years ahead of me. I feel like I’m really young in this sport, and it’s just starting to really click, so that’s nice.”
No doubt, Byron’s future is bright. But over the last two seasons, the prime predictor for winning the Cup title comes from winning Race 33—the first event in the penultimate round of the postseason.
In 2021, Larson won at Texas Motor Speedway, enabling crew chief Cliff Daniels and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team to work on their season finale car. Last year, defending champion Joey Logano was victorious at Las Vegas. He entered the Championship 4 weekend at Phoenix and called his shot.
The trend isn’t lost on Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle.
“Obviously, the winner of Las Vegas has a huge advantage,” Fugle said. “We’ve been working on it since we won Texas. And even if you don’t win, if you can get yourself a huge points position—try to get yourself a little more of a cushion—that’s going to be big.
“I realistically think you’re going to have two-to-three winners, so depending on who those are, there’s nobody who is safe in the top half of the four going into this round. Points and having a super good race is huge. The cars have changed. The driving styles have changed. The weather is going to change in Las Vegas. But I like where our mile-and-a-half program is, so we’re moving in the right direction. I feel good about it.”
Fugle is well aware of the gains all championship contenders have made over the last seven months, whether it be aero improvements, gaining additional grip with the cars or pit road execution. But he likes the No. 24 team’s chances particularly with two intermediate tracks as the first two races in the Round of 8. Byron won the last race on a 1.5-miler—at Texas last month.
Over the last year, Byron has trimmed his average finish four positions to 11.5—currently the best among Cup drivers. But Fugle isn’t surprised by Byron’s progress. The pair won seven races together during the 2016 Craftsman Truck Series season, when they competed at Kyle Busch Motorsports.
“He started off very mature as an 18-year-old, but he keeps on growing and it hasn’t stopped,” Fugle said. “He’s learning and learning how to be a team leader in a different way every single week. I’m proud of him and happy to work with him.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
