William Byron
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
Driver William Byron Hometown Charlotte, North Carolina
Age 22 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2020 Season
12th in standings
34 starts
1 win
0 pole positions
4 top-five finishes
13 top-10 finishes
140 laps led
Career
106 starts
1 win
5 pole positions
9 top-five finishes
30 top-10 finishes
434 laps led
Track Career
5 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
2 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
NEW CREW CHIEF, WHO DIS: Hendrick Motorsports on Monday named Rudy Fugle as the crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season. As one of the most successful crew chiefs at the NASCAR national series level, Fugle has won two driver championships and five owner titles in the NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series. He has also recorded 28 truck victories, which tie him for the second-most in series history. Of those 28 wins, seven came with Fugle and then-rookie Byron during 2016. That season, the pair led 21% of all possible laps and earned the Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series owner championship. Fugle will replace current No. 24 crew chief Chad Knaus, who was recently named Hendrick Motorsports’ vice president of competition effective at the completion of the 2020 racing season. To learn more about the Fugle announcement, click here.
TEXAS-SIZED DELAY: Starting 11th for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, Byron and the rest of the field saw the red flag displayed after only 52 laps due to rain. With weather looming in the area, the race finally resumed Wednesday afternoon and Byron marched his way to the sixth position by the end of Stage 1. He fought major handling woes with the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE during the middle segment of the event, but Byron utilized the final stage to rally his way to a 13th-place finish at the 1.5-mile oval.
STRAIGHT 10s: A model of consistency lately, Byron heads to Martinsville with two consecutive top-10 finishes at the paperclip-shaped track – the second longest streak on a track for Byron – behind Pocono Raceway and Kansas Speedway (three each). He also has two top-10 finishes during the four short-track races in the 2020 season, tying him for fifth behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who all have three. In fact, in the last 10 races of the 2020 season, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has six top-10 finishes, tying him for third, just two behind other Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman (8).
MARTINSVILLE MINUTES: Despite his young age, Byron’s time at Martinsville goes back years since attending his first Cup Series race at the paperclip-shaped track in 2006 as a fan. Since then, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has moved through the NASCAR ranks and is now poised to make his eighth overall start at the .526-mile track, his sixth in the Cup Series. Of those five Cup Series starts at the short track, Byron has a best starting position of 11th for both fall races in 2018 and 2019 and he raced to a runner-up finish in the fall 2019. In fact, that race is the best race statistically of Byron’s Cup career, holding an average running position of 4.5 – the third-best of all drivers in the race. He also earned 45 points during the event – the third-most earned that race. Byron also has two other Martinsville starts, both coming in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2016, where he qualified seventh for both events and raced to a third-place finish in the spring and an eighth-place finish in the fall.
KNAUS’ KNACK FOR MARTINSVILLE: Calling the shots on top of the pit box for the 41st time at Martinsville Speedway, crew chief Chad Knaus is ready to add another grandfather clock to his collection after this Sunday’s race at the Martinsville. Knaus has nine wins already, the second-highest amount at one track in his career (11 wins at Dover). His most recent win at the Virginia short track came in fall 2016 with Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team. However, he came close to another win in the 2019 fall race, collecting a runner-up finish with Byron and the No. 24.
FINAL ONE FOR LIBERTY U: For this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway, Liberty University will adorn Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for the final time during the 2020 Cup Series season this Sunday. Liberty University is in its sixth season of sponsoring the 22-year-old driver dating back to his time in the late model ranks. Liberty has been Training Champions for Christ since it was founded in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offers more than 600 degree programs from the certificate to the doctoral level, on campus and online. Working on an undergraduate degree in business communications, Byron is in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program.
NOVEMBER WON: Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will fall on a date that has been successful for Hendrick Motorsports. The team has won two of the last three Cup races held on Nov. 1, both courtesy of Jeff Gordon: Rockingham in 1998 and Martinsville in 2015. Gordon’s 2015 result was the last of his 93 career Cup Series wins and his ninth at the Virginia short track.
MARTINSVILLE SUCCESS: Hendrick Motorsports has won 24 races at Martinsville Speedway, the most victories for any team at any track in NASCAR Cup Series history. Junior Johnson and Associates is second on the list with 21 wins at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports is next with 20 first-places results at both Dover International Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval.
GOOD OMEN: In the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race held at Martinsville Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports placed each of its cars inside the top 10. In June, Chase Elliott finished fifth, Alex Bowman sixth, William Byron eighth and Jimmie Johnson 10th. Hendrick Motorsports is the only team in 2020 to put four cars in the top 10 in a short-track event. It also marked the fifth time that the organization has earned four top-10 positions in a Martinsville Cup race.
THE FIVE: Hendrick Motorsports has sent five different drivers to victory lane at Martinsville. Gordon and Johnson each have nine wins at the legendary half-mile track, followed by Darrell Waltrip with four. Geoff Bodine and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each have one victory there for car owner Rick Hendrick, who grew up less than two hours away in Palmer Springs, Virginia.
THE BIG FIVE-OH: Hendrick Motorsports has 50 NASCAR Cup Series wins on short tracks, the most of all active teams. Joe Gibbs Racing is second with 41.
STREAKING: Hendrick Motorsports has notched as least one top-10 finish in 16 consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races. The last time the team reeled off more than 16 straight top-10s was from October 2014 to July 2015 when it posted 23 in a row. Hendrick Motorsports has also led laps in each of the last 12 races, which is the longest active streak of any organization.
PLAYOFF RECORD: Since the inception of the format in 2004, Hendrick Motorsports has 45 NASCAR Cup Series playoff wins – 15 more than any other team. Including 2020, the organization has scored at least one playoff win in a record 16 different seasons, missing only 2017. A series-topping seven different drivers have won a playoff race for Hendrick Motorsports.
THE STATS: Since its inception in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 261 race victories and holds the all-time records for championships (12), pole positions (226), top-five finishes (1,098), top-10s (1,895) and laps led (70,429) in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Including 2020, the organization has won at least one race in 35 consecutive seasons, the longest-ever streak. Hendrick Motorsports is seven wins away from tying Petty Enterprises’ all-time Cup record of 268.
Driver William Byron on his earliest memories of Martinsville:
“Watching Jimmie (Johnson) over the years at Martinsville, you kind of learn some things. I do feel like my racing style is a bit more similar to Jeff (Gordon) than Jimmie’s at that track but it’s interesting to see the different approaches people take to racing there. My earliest memories of the sport involve watching those two race and battle for the win at Martinsville.”
Byron on how to approach racing at Martinsville:
“I’ve really enjoyed going to Martinsville even more recently since I’ve really started to figure it out, I feel like. It has an interesting rhythm to it, and once you figure it out it’s just a lot of fun and a cool track in general. There really is no room to move around that much. And while rhythm is a key there, you need to know the areas of the track that you want your car to be good in as well. There is a lot of factors that make speed there. It’s just figuring out that rhythm that you need to go fast.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
