24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 23 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 9th
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No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE
FRONT RUNNER: Five races into his fourth NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron is off to the best start of his career. So far, the 23-year-old driver has spent 759 laps running inside the top 10 – the fifth-highest amount in the Cup field. Of those 759 laps, 317 were inside the top-five running order, which is the seventh-most by a driver at NASCAR’s highest level this season. Currently, Byron has led laps in two races and ranks third for most laps led by a driver this year with 127. Only Joey Logano (198) and Denny Hamlin (183) have led more laps. Byron has the eighth-best average running position of the 2021 season at 11.16.
TOP-10 TAKES: Having to overcome issues in the first two races of the season, Byron has turned things around and is now on a streak of three consecutive top-10 finishes. His run of top-10 results ranks the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet fourth for the most top-10s in 2021. In fact, the streak of three consecutive top-10s is tied for the longest of the Charlotte, North Carolina, native’s Cup career. It’s something he has done only two other times, both in 2020.
1.5-MILE MOMENTUM: With the Cup Series racing at two 1.5-mile tracks so far this year, Byron is one of four drivers who have finished inside the top 10 for both events, including Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.
THE ATL ARCHIVE: With three previous Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Byron has a track-best finish of 17th from the 2019 spring race. Other than his three Cup Series appearances, Byron has two other NASCAR starts at the 1.5-mile track: One in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he finished seventh, and one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where he was running second before losing an engine, leaving him with a 32nd-place finish.
RUDY RUNS THE ATL: While Sunday marks another track where crew chief Rudy Fugle will call the shots for the first time in the NASCAR Cup Series, the Livonia, New York, native is no stranger to success at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts as a crew chief, Fugle has two pole awards and two wins at the 1.5-mile track. In six events, his drivers have collected four top-three finishes and five top-10s. Fugle only has one finish worse than seventh, coming with Byron in 2016 when the duo was running second before suffering an engine failure.
LIBERTY U IS BACK: This Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Byron will sport the new Liberty University paint scheme for the second time this season. Now featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet will be sure to stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University 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 communications, Byron is now in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on how difficult it is to race at Atlanta: “Atlanta is just a tough track. It’s a little bit easier at this time of the year because it’s a bit cooler, but it’s not easy to run there ever by any means. You’re going to need to have a car that can do all the right things throughout the entire race. Luckily, I feel like this Sunday’s race will be similar to Homestead, and it gives us a good idea of what we need in our car. We can use past Atlanta notes and pair them with our Homestead notes from this year to, hopefully, continue this stretch of good runs we have going.”
Byron on the tire fall-off at Atlanta: “You notice the tire fall-off really every corner at Atlanta. You may have a couple laps that the tires feel good, but after that with every corner you can feel the tires fall off and lose grip. It’s a challenge to keep the car straight at times. Add to that that you’re racing against other guys and if they take your lane away it becomes really hard to find another lane to be as fast in. It’s all really difficult to manage for that long of a period of time consistently.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the No. 24 team’s start to 2021: “I’m proud of what this team has accomplished so far this year. While we started off with a couple of hard races, we still had small victories along the way. This group never got down and worked on righting the ship to put together good solid races. Phoenix last week was a good example of that. It was just a solid mistake-free day all the way around. We need to continue to have more of those races and keep our foot on the gas.”
Fugle on racing Atlanta: “Atlanta is a track that I have a lot of laps at. It’s a track that we use to test at with rookie drivers in the truck series, which has been the majority of my career. I feel like I have a really good idea of what we can expect the track to do, not only at this time of year, but also throughout the entirety of the race. With Atlanta having such an old, worn out surface, consistency will be key Sunday. We need to make sure not to abuse the tires early on and maintain track position at the same time. If you can manage the track and your tires throughout the run, you’ll pick up positions when other cars begin to struggle. We were able to do that at Homestead, so hopefully that carries over to this weekend’s race as well.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
