24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 24 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 9th
No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
2022 SEASON STATS: So far in the 2022 season, William Byron has scored two wins, four top-five finishes, five top-10s, with 570 laps led – the most by a NASCAR Cup Series driver this season – as well as three stage wins and 13 playoff points accumulated. He is also currently ninth in the driver point standings, locked into the Cup Series playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
TO THE FRONT: With 17 races complete in 2022, Byron has led laps in 11 of them – the fifth-most by a driver this year. He has also spent the seventh-most laps running in the top-10 (2,571) as well as the third-most laps running within the top-five (1,689). The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has also picked up 13 playoff points – tied with Ross Chastain and teammate Chase Elliott for the most by any driver so far this season.
ROAD RESULTS: During his Cup Series career, Byron has been working to step up his road course racing skills. In the last six road course races to hold qualifying, Byron has won the pole for three of them (Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in 2019, Road America and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in 2021). That stat is tied for the second-most among active drivers. He also has five top-10 finishes in the last 12 road course races which is ranked as the seventh-most in that stretch. In fact, in two road course races this year, Byron finished 12th at Circuit of The Americas and ninth at Sonoma Raceway.
RETURNING TO ROAD AMERICA: While this is the second consecutive year that the Cup Series will race at Road America, both Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle have been to the Wisconsin-based road course prior to 2021 in their NASCAR careers. Fugle called the shots on top of the pit box at Road America in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2015 while Byron’s start also came in the Xfinity Series, but in 2017, where he raced to a sixth-place finish. The duo competed together at the inaugural Cup Series event last year, scoring the win in stage one, a runner-up result in stage two and were poised for a great result but late-race contact forced him off track, resulting in a 33rd-place finish.
FUGLE FILES: In 2022, the NASCAR Cup Series has raced on two road courses – Circuit of The Americas and Sonoma Raceway. Fugle and the No. 24 team scored a 12th-place finish at COTA and a ninth-place effort at Sonoma. In total, Fugle has nine Cup Series starts on road courses, three starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and seven in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. In those seven Truck Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has one win (Erik Jones, 2015), three top-five finishes, and five top-10s. One of those seven truck starts was also with Byron, where the duo raced to a 10th-place finish at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2016.
RAPTOR® TOUGH: Ready to take on Road America, Byron will be back behind the wheel of the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Sunday’s event. RAPTOR® is a durable protective coating and bed liner that is designed to tolerate the toughest climatic conditions and can be applied to a wide range of substrates from steel, wood, concrete and plaster to plastics and composites. Resistant to common fuels, U.V., scratches and stains, RAPTOR® is available at local paint distributors, auto parts stores and can also be purchased from online retailers like Amazon.
BACK IN THE SADDLE: Hendrick Motorsports will be making its first NASCAR Xfinity Series start since 2009 this weekend at Road America. The organization has 26 wins in the series with Tony Stewart winning in the last start made at Daytona International Speedway. Kyle Larson will pilot the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro on Saturday, Alex Bowman will drive the car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on July 30 and William Byron will be behind the wheel at Watkins Glen International on Aug. 20. Kevin Meendering will serve as the team’s crew chief for the three races.
EDGE OF SEVENTEEN: For its 2022 Xfinity Series races, Hendrick Motorsports will field the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro – the same number Ricky Hendrick drove in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. That number has won 39 times in Xfinity Series history and two of the four drivers to win in it – Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte – would go on to win in the NASCAR Cup Series with the Rick Hendrick-owned organization. You can see renderings of the Xfinity Series paint scheme here.
LEADERS OF THE PACK: The 2022 Cup Series season has seen Hendrick Motorsports win six times in 17 races. That total leads all Cup teams by three wins. The four-car organization has led 30 percent of the laps this season, which is 1,374 in total and 276 more circuits in front than the next closest team. Teammates Byron and Chase Elliott rank 1-2 in laps led this season.
RULERS OF THE ROAD: At 25 wins, Hendrick Motorsports has the most all-time triumphs on road courses in Cup Series history. The two closest teams in this statistic have combined for only 21 wins.. Since their inaugural season in 1984, the organization has won 29 percent of road courses events (25 wins in 87 races).
COUNTING ‘EM UP: Seven different drivers have accounted for the 25 road course wins in team history. Jeff Gordon leads the way for the team with nine victories (which are also the most among all drivers) followed by Elliott with seven. Tim Richmond and Kyle Larson are tied for third on the list with three wins apiece. Geoff Bodine, Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Rudd each tallied one victory.
ROAD TESTED: In addition to road course wins, Hendrick Motorsports stands at the top of the board on road courses in the following stats: Poles (22), top-five finishes (76), top-10s (134), laps led (2,072) and stage wins (13).
FREQUENT VICTORS: The Concord, North Carolina-based team has been strong on road courses in recent years. Over the last 16 road races, Hendrick Motorsports has tallied 10 wins with Elliott notching all seven of his road victories in that time. Larson has accounted for organization’s additional three wins in that span.
SWEEP SENSATIONS: In the era of stage racing, there have been two times – both by Hendrick Motorsports – when one driver swept every road course stage and won the race. Elliott was the first to do so in his 2019 win at Watkins Glen International. Larson also accomplished this with his victory in 2021 at Sonoma Raceway.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his thoughts for Road America this weekend: “I’m excited to head to Road America. I’ve always enjoyed racing there in both series. I feel like it’s one of my strongest road courses that we race at. I finished sixth there in the Xfinity Series in 2017 and, while the Cup race didn’t end the way we wanted, we had a strong run going there all day with a stage one win and a second-place finish in stage two. We have some notes to work off of for this year’s race but the Next Gen car adds an element of unknown still. We’ve really had to work on our road course package this year, and I think we’re starting to get in a better place after Sonoma (Raceway). We just have to keep it moving in the right direction and I think we have a good chance of doing that at Road America this weekend.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on preparing for Road America: “Road America presents it’s own set of challenges compared to other road courses we run at. It’s the longest course we compete on and it’s also the heaviest-braking road course on the schedule. We don’t have a ton of notes heading into this race since last year was the first Cup Series race there. But we had a good race, and the No. 9 won, so we have a good starting point. Plus we’ve had two Next Gen road course races already this year. We have more notes going into this weekend than in the past especially since we’re using the same tire as we did at COTA (Circuit of The Americas). I think some trends will stay the same as well, including that you want to make sure you’re good in the braking zones but also you want to have more grip and drive off in the slower corners of the course. That gives you better lap times.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
