He acknowledged that he was the “other guy” when people talked of the HMS roster which includes Cup Series champions, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. However, being side-lined isn’t something that affects him a lot. He said, “Yeah, I use it all as fuel, go just keep it coming. All the preseason predictions and everything.”

OFFICIAL: @WilliamByron was the leader at the time of caution.

He wins the 66th running of the #DAYTONA500! pic.twitter.com/PMIyF0TdVZ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024

He continued, “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 things with my race team.” His mindset is centered on balancing calmness and voicing out thoughts to make the HMS team better. While he is aware that he is never going to be the most vocal guy in the garage, he is plenty satisfied with it.

He concluded, “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.” With an unimpressive track record in the event, Byron carried one of the lowest odds amongst his teammates to win the Daytona 500. However, it was he who took the checkered flag at the end of the 500 miles.

How William Byron and Alex Bowman completed a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports

Monday’s race was no short of action. With wrecks filling the field right from stage 1, Byron and Alex Bowman found themselves ahead of their counterparts in the final laps of the day. Byron was engaged in racing Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric when the duo got involved in a wreck that sent them crashing out. Thankfully for Byron, he’d just taken the white flag when officials called for caution.

William Byron wins the Daytona 500! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bmofJSB6k3

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2024

With the race then fixed to end in green or caution, Byron held his lead with Bowman at his heels. The two drivers who went in with the lowest odds ended up giving HMS its best finish in the Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in 2014. Meanwhile, Byron’s teammate Chase Elliott won the first stage and finished the day in 14th position and Kyle Larson was slightly ahead at 11th.

The post How Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott Hype Overshadow William Byron’s Talent and Acts as Fuel for the Daytona 500 Winner appeared first on The SportsRush.

As Jamie Little of Fox Sports walked up to team owner Rick Hendrick in the victory lane, the Hall of Famer seemed to be in utter disbelief. Viewing it as an act from a perfectly written drama, Hendrick said, “I’m telling you, you couldn’t write the script any better…24-24. When you think about coming down here for the first time we didn’t think we should be here…felt so out of place. And to win this on our 40th…that’s awesome.”

Rick Hendrick and @JeffGordonWeb talk with @JamieLittleTV. #NASCAR #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/x1ucBlqipW

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2024

While the owner was still taking his time, still letting all of it seep in, team Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon was so excited that he shot his arm up in the air and cried out, “Daytona 500!” Visually ecstatic, the 4X Cup Series champion admitted that although he wasn’t driving the car himself, he felt like he was making every lap with Byron’s #24 Chevy. According to him, by winning the 66th Daytona 500, Byron has attained a whole different level of stardom.

The crash that ultimately got Byron locked into the playoffs

The Daytona 500 being eventful isn’t anything unusual. Moments before the checkered flag came out, the field witnessed a 23-car pileup. That too, was not surprising at all. After all, that’s how the fans are used to seeing the closing 10 laps of the 500 unfold.

About three laps before the big crash, the lead cars went as far as three wide. However, the real action began with nine laps to go. Byron’s teammate Alex Bowman slightly nosed him and Brad Keselowski’s #6 Ford got caught in the ripple effect. It wasn’t long before most of the leading cars got caught up in a series of crashes. Almost half of the field was involved. Luckily, Byron wasn’t one of them, and he managed to drive to the pit row and continue racing.

A closer look at the carnage from the big one in the 2024 #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/CaqCsg0sGg

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2024

“Just extremely blessed and thankful for all the opportunities, now just want to keep it going,” Byron exclaimed after climbing out of his car. “We have a lot to prove this year, and this is a good start obviously. Daytona 500, it’s freaking awesome!”

Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., And Kyle Busch were among those who wrecked. For Busch, this was his 19th straight winless Daytona 500.

The post 2024 Daytona 500: Rick Hendrick in Disbelief After William Byron’s Fairytale Daytona 500 Win appeared first on The SportsRush.

Larson believes that having help from behind is one of the keys to winning the event. He says to NASCAR, “I think you often see that I feel like with a lot of the guys who consistently run up front, everybody else in the field realizes that they’ve had success and they trust them to follow them. So you really need help from behind as well.” Larson has raced in the 500-miler several times in the past and holds a best finish of 7th place.

The #DAYTONA500 has been postponed until 4 p.m. ET tomorrow due to weather. pic.twitter.com/bmNEuWQVJr

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) February 18, 2024

Byron, on the other hand, has fared even worse than his counterpart. In 6 starts, he has never finished better than 21st. His capabilities behind the wheel can be questioned by none after the season he had in 2023. Once he finds the key to unlocking the Daytona 500 there will be holding him back. But that’s easier said than done.

Byron says of the challenge on superspeedways, “We saw three-wide (racing last year), and a lot of that has to do with saving fuel and how that all plays out. So it’s just tough to balance. Now I feel like everyone’s gotten so smart with this strategy that it’s just more of a track position thing than ever.” 

Why Hendrick Motorsports VP Jeff Gordon wants his drivers to win the Daytona 500

The last time a HMS driver won the Daytona 500 was in 2014. Should Larson or Byron achieve the task this year, there’d be none more pleased than 4X Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. He says of what it would mean for one of his men to be a winner at the event, “I want all four of them to experience it over the future because it is so special and you realize it once you win it. But right now, they’re realizing how hard it is to win.”

Both Larson and Byron had plenty of success in the past season though they did not win the title. They will be hoping to carry the same momentum into the 2024 season opener. The other HMS drivers, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott will be running to break their bad spells from 2023 and bounce back strong.

The post Kyle Larson and William Byron Reveal Challenge Behind Winning the Daytona 500 appeared first on The SportsRush.

Both Blaney and Byron were Championship 4 contenders at Phoenix last year. On NASCAR’s media day ahead of the finale, most of the questions that came their way were about where Erin’s allegiance lay and how the championship results would affect the dynamic between them. Tired of repeating his answers to the press, Ryan turned to Byron to express his frustration.

He laughed, “Y’all should have broken up for his week then after the season got back together. We wouldn’t have had to answer so many questions about it.” Ryan had answered the press’s questions about who had Erin’s support by saying that she wanted both of them to win and in that way, she had the best shot at the championship.

Ryan @Blaney and @WilliamByron advance to the #Championship4 for the first time in the #NASCAR Cup Series careers! pic.twitter.com/Ji2w6pW1OB

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 29, 2023

He added, “I told Erin, ‘You have a 50% shot to be happy.’ We’ll see. It will be fun.” He also mentioned how he would still be glad should he end up losing the title to his sister’s boyfriend. However, he did admit, “I probably would be upset for a little bit, right? You just lost. But I would be happy for them, him as well, that he did win. I would show him a bunch of respect.”

In the end, Ryan ended up lifting the championship trophy though Byron couldn’t.

The reason for the awkwardness between Ryan Blaney and William Byron in 2019

Though Byron and Erin started dating in 2019, they hadn’t revealed the status of their relationship to Ryan. He’d come to know about the major family update through a friend when he was walking to a driver meeting at the Martinsville Speedway that year. In Ryan’s words, “My buddy’s like, ‘Hey I didn’t know about Willy and your sister. And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ”

When he confronted his sister and Byron about it, they’d acknowledged that they were dating. When Byron came to know later how Ryan had come to know of the news, he said, “Oh, gosh. Man. No wonder he raced me so hard that day. I should have handled that better.”

You’re alright @WilliamByron pic.twitter.com/NGVYVyggqt

— Ryan Blaney (@Blaney) December 5, 2019

Byron also later admitted to Denny Hamlin on his podcast that he’d felt awkward about things considering that he hadn’t asked for Ryan’s permission before asking his sister out. Thankfully, more than four years later, the champion doesn’t hold any hard feelings for Byron.

The post Why Ryan Blaney Asked William Byron to Breakup With His Sister appeared first on The SportsRush.

Before the Next Gen car came into the mix, intermediates weren’t as popular a destination as they are now. The new car proved to be particularly good at this kind of track and has thrilled fans since. Of the 42 tracks that NASCAR has at its disposal across the U.S. and Canada, it classifies 13 as intermediate tracks, all of which are on the 2024 schedule.

Three of the top-ranked intermediates that will be visited this season are Homestead-Miami, Darlington Raceway, and the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Other venues include the Phoenix Raceway, the Kansas Speedway, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Dover Motorspeedway, the Michigan International Speedway, the Nashville Superspeedway, the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Texas Motorspeedway, and the Word Wide Technology Raceway.

Though the Next Gen car has injected life into the intermediate schedule and made races much more interesting, it has done so at the cost of lifeless short-track races. Despite the discussions surrounding this, NASCAR has opted to retain its number of intermediate tracks for 2024 the same as 2023.

Drivers with the best results on intermediate tracks in recent times

In the races held since February 2021, Hendrick Motorsports’ rising star William Byron has performed the best on intermediate tracks. Of the 30 races that he has driven in during this time, he has four wins, 13 top-5s, and 21 top-10s. He has also led 777 laps and holds an average finish of 9.3.

His teammate, Kyle Larson follows closely behind with an average finish of 9.7. Larson has secured eight wins, 18 top-5s, and 22 top-10s. He leads the current grid having led 2,483 laps so far. The third-best driver on intermediates is Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. Hamlin’s average falls at 10.1, with four wins, 14 top-5s, and 19 top-10s.

The first race on an intermediate track will be at the Atlanta Motorspeedway on February 25. Just the second race of the season after the Daytona 500, the 260-lap Ambetter Health 400 can be followed on Fox, PRN, or SiriusXM.

The post What Are Intermediate Tracks in NASCAR? Which Tracks on the 2024 Schedule Are Intermediate Tracks? appeared first on The SportsRush.

The 26-year-old was one of the drivers featured in Netflix’s new docuseries: NASCAR Full Speed. Revealing his passion for the building-block toys in the final episode of the show, he said, “I feel like the muscle movements in my hands are kind of like driving. Once I get in a rhythm with it, and it flows pretty naturally.” Though he credited Erin for teaching him what was what, he added that he has since taken it to the “next level”.

 

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A post shared by William Byron (@williambyron)

He continued, “Erin felt I needed something to get my mind off racing and do something different, but I took it to a new level. It fits my personality. It’s very analytical.” 

The docuseries also portrays his Lego builds including race cars, a NASA spacecraft, and the Titanic. “The foundation is usually a lot of small pieces. Lego takes a lot of fine details and is very quiet.”, he concluded. Erin added that when Byron sat down to build, it was his time to escape.

William Byron’s appearance on LEGO Masters on Fox

The Netflix episode wasn’t the first time that the world got to witness Byron’s finesse with Legos. The North Carolina native made an appearance in an episode of the Fox show “Lego Masters” in 2022, alongside his team’s Vice Chairman, Jeff Gordon.

The duo guided and helped the show’s contestants who were split into two teams, each to build a race car out of the blocks. While Byron provided guidance, and feedback and helped direct the teams, Gordon served as a judge for the final product.

After a historic season that transformed him into a championship contender, Byron fine-tunes his engine for the Busch Light Clash on February 4. Matching the six wins and 1016 leading laps that he garnered in 2023 will be quite the uphill climb considering the full-time returns of teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman. The #24 team headed by crew chief Rudy Fugle will nevertheless attempt to fix themselves a spot in the playoffs yet again.

The post William Byron Relationship With LEGO: How the HMS Driver Uses Legos to Improve in NASCAR appeared first on The SportsRush.

However, when it came to short tracks, the number 24 team lost its momentum. “Martinsville… We struggled there,” admitted Byron. “Richmond; not a super important track, not in the playoffs but we need to be better there and just get our short track program better so that when we do get to Phoenix we have something to compete with.”

“We had a good car, obviously, at Phoenix, but just kinda knowing how to get speed out of it the entire race… we struggled to keep our pace up throughout the race,” he stated bluntly.

William Byron says he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder. Here’s why and the tracks he’s looking at where he wants to improve in 2024. pic.twitter.com/pGDRPvehfm

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) January 29, 2024

Despite winning at Martinsville last year, he struggled at the shortest track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit this year. Even his performance at Richmond, was marred by a 60-point penalty due to illegal modifications of the car and a greenhouse violation, according to Section 14.5.6.B of the NASCAR rulebook. Byron’s ninth-place finish at Bristol during the playoffs was his only top-10 performance in short tracks last season.

William Byron is optimistic about The Coliseum to kick start his 2024 journey

Despite his short-track miseries, the Chevy star looks forward to starting 2024 afresh. And he chose The Clash at The Coliseum as his starting point. This year, the format of the race has been reformed, which in turn, could make the heat races more intense now. But that should not bother the Charlotte native, especially when he won last year’s 4th qualifying heat race.

“I think we’ve had pretty decent success at the Clash in the past,” Byron told the press. “We’ve always made the race and always come in the top 5 or 10. Last year we won the heat race; that was good. Just trying to build on what we’ve done in the past. This is a good place to start hopefully.”

Indeed, Byron’s performance has been quite consistent at The Clash. Looking back at 2022, he succeeded in recording a P6 finish in the race, and the following year; he registered a top-10 performance. No wonder he is excited to run in the annual non-championship pre-season Cup Series exhibition race.

The post William Byron’s Biggest Pain Points Heading Into 2024 NASCAR Season appeared first on The SportsRush.

Following the overwhelming success of the Formula 1 documentary, Drive to Survive, NASCAR has also announced a new, five-part documentary series produced by Connor Schell, Aaron Cohen, Ben Kennedy, Matt Summers, Tally Hair, NASCAR Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, Tim Clark, and last but not the least the two-time Xfinity Series champ and Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Starring in this masterpiece are seasoned speedsters like the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Hendrick Motorsports duo Kyle Larson and William Byron, 7-times Pocono champion Denny Hamlin, Ross “Melonman” Chastain, Joe Gibbs Racing sensation Christopher Bell, 23XI Racing icon Tyler Reddick and of course, his teammate, Bubba Wallace.

Although there has been no official information about this, it is expected that each of the episodes in this Netflix original will vividly portray the struggle of these nine drivers to win the Cup Series title.

Release date, where, and how can you watch the upcoming NASCAR Netflix Series?

The most awaited docu-film is expected to be released just five days ahead (January 30) of the first race of the 2024 Cup season at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 4. Those who are eagerly waiting for it, can watch NASCAR: Full Speed exclusively on Netflix with prices for the subscription starting at just $6.99 a month.

Besides that, it can also be streamed online on smart TVs, phones, and tablets via the Netflix app.

As for why should one watch it? Well, the answer was given by Tim Clark himself. He claimed that NASCAR is the most competitive form of motorsport on the planet. And not everybody gets the chance to witness its fullest fury.

Hence, this docuseries will allow them to see the aggression of the sport and the skill of the drivers up close as they rock their high-speed machines around 38 other cars, darting forth for that one cherished ride down the victory lane. Additionally, when “Drive to Survive” aired, it did not just entertain the viewers but helped increase the viewership significantly, simultaneously driving ticket sales and attracting more sponsors to the sport.

Needless to say, NASCAR too, expects a similar response to its soon-to-release documentary.

The post Which Drivers Will Feature in the Upcoming NASCAR Netflix Series? appeared first on The SportsRush.

In October 2004, one of the biggest tragedies in NASCAR occurred when a plane carrying family members and team members of Rick Hendrick crashed into a mountain, killing all 10 passengers. But with 4 races left in that season, Hendrick Motorsports carried on, something Jimmie Johnson knew the Lakers would also have to go through in the wake of Bryant’s death.

“For us, everything before the race was the hardest part. Once we started the practice, it took a little off. Once we qualified, one more off, and then when it was time to race, it was almost healing to race. I think the days leading up to our first on-track activity were the hardest ones,” Johnson said in 2020. “So I would assume the Lakers are going to deal with something similar to that.”

“In that first race, we had such a purpose and a mission to honor the people that we lost, that we put aside the pain for a short period of time and became highly motivated by that.”

William Byron and Ryan Blaney paid special tributes to Kobe Bryant in 2020

After Kobe Bryant’s death, all forms of tributes from across the globe came in. Such was the impact and legend of Bryant that those tributes went beyond the court of the NBA and were seen even on the racetracks in NASCAR.

Ahead of the race in Fontana in 2020, several drivers, teams, and fans paid their tribute to the NBA legend. The current Trackhouse Racing star, Daniel Suarez, wore a #24 jersey in Bryant’s honor. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron of the #24 team and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney of the #12 team, both paid their tribute with purple and gold Laker paint schemes on their respective racecars.

In fact, Blaney revealed that he was taken aback by Bryant when he showed a lot of interest in NASCAR during their meeting at a BodyArmor event in 2018. “He wanted to learn everything about it. And he had these questions that were like, ‘Man, you know nothing about this, but you’re asking really good questions,'” Blaney recalled.

As for William Byron, he claimed that Bryant’s legacy extends beyond basketball, reaching across all the sports world and into many different communities where he gave back.

The post Jimmie Johnson Understood Lakers’ Grief After Kobe Bryant’s Tragic Death appeared first on The SportsRush.

The first meeting between Audrey and Byron happened at the Pocono Raceway when she was walking to her father’s #5 Camaro. Holding a hero card in her hands she’d walked up to Byron to get it signed and been smitten by the #24 driver. Larson said, “I mean you could tell like instantly. She was just staring at him and, you know, star-struck. Ever since that day, William Byron has been her number one.”

Audrey is the second child of Kyle Larson and his wife, Katelyn. Born in May 2018, she was around 3 years old when she met Byron. In 2022, her parents revealed her to be suffering from Alopecia, an auto-immune disorder that causes hair loss. The Larsons most recently made one more addition to their family when they welcomed another little boy, Cooper Donald Larson.

For Kyle Larson, it will be a while before he gets to know if at least one of his children will name him as their favorite because his eldest, Owen, has his eyes on a different driver too like his sister.

Kyle Larson’s eldest, Owen, doesn’t name his father as his favorite either

In 2021, NASCAR organized a show called ‘Back Seat Drivers’ with a little twist. The children of famous Cup Series stars played host and guest on this show and it featured Taylor Hamlin, Alex Almirola, and Owen Miyata Larson. The trio spent their time on the show discussing their favorites for the championship, their favorite drivers, and some of their other cool experiences in NASCAR.

When Owen’s turn came to disclose who his favorite man behind the wheel was, he replied, “Brad”. Though Larson was left funnily disappointed at his son’s answer he hoped that the kid meant his uncle Brad Sweet and not Brad Keselowski.

The #5 Hendrick Motorsports star will surely be hoping that at least Cooper Larson grows up to call him his favorite race car driver.

The post Why Is William Byron the Favorite NASCAR Driver of Kyle Larson’s Daughter? appeared first on The SportsRush.