24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 24 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 5th
No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
ON TO THE NEXT: With the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 16 coming to a close last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, William Byron locked himself into the next round early on in the race, advancing to the Round of 12 for the third time in his Cup Series career. With points reset for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, Byron now sits fifth, six points above the cutoff line.
ONE AND ONLY: In the first round, Byron was the only playoff driver to not suffer an issue. He was also one of the three drivers – Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin were the others – to finish in the top 10 of all three races. He finished eighth at Darlington Raceway, sixth at Kansas Speedway and third at Bristol.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: In the first three races of the 2022 playoffs, the No. 24 pit crew had an average four-tire pit stop time of 10.821 – third-best in the field in the same timeframe. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Landon Walker (fueler), Ryan Patton (tire carrier), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer) and Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer).
FRONTING THE FIELD: The 24-year-old continues to hold the statistic of leading the second-most laps so far this season with 671 – behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who has led 719. Those 671 laps led by Byron are not only his most in a single Cup Series season but have come across 15 races.
1.5-MILE MOMENTUM: Byron is no stranger to success on mile-and-a-half tracks during his Cup Series career. Since the start of 2021 through the 2022 season so far, Byron has two wins, one runner-up finish, five top-fives, and 10 top-10s on 1.5-mile tracks. In fact, Byron is currently on a nine-race streak of races led on 1.5-milers that started back at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last fall – the most of any driver in that time span. Meanwhile, in 2022, Byron has collected 187 points on this style of track – the seventh-most in the field.
TRUCKIN’ IT IN TEXAS: Byron’s success at Texas started almost seven years ago in his first race at the 1.5-mile oval with crew chief Rudy Fugle on the pit box. Starting from the sixth position, the then-NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie led six laps before capturing the checkered flag to become the youngest to ever win a Truck Series race at Texas.
LONE STAR-SIZED STATS: Texas is a track that the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has always run well at throughout his entire NASCAR career, even if the statistics don’t always reflect that. In seven Cup Series points races at the Lone Star State track, Byron has three top-10 results, including a track-best finish of second last fall. Byron also has five other starts at the 1.5-mile oval, with an average finish of 3.5 in two Truck Series starts and 6.0 in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
FUGLE HAS ‘NO LIMITS’: Sunday marks crew chief Fugle’s second Cup Series points-paying event at Texas. Last fall, Fugle and the No. 24 team battled for the win in the final stage before crossing the finish line in the runner-up position. However, Fugle has 18 other starts at Texas, with all but three coming in the Truck Series. He has visited victory lane at the “No Limits” track five times in the Truck ranks – the most for him at any track on the circuit – most recently in 2019 where he swept both races, first with Kyle Busch in March and then in June with Greg Biffle. Of those five wins, one includes a victory with Byron in June of 2016. In his 15 Truck Series starts, Fugle’s drivers have also racked up seven top-five finishes, 11 top-10s with 493 laps led.
RAPTOR® TOUGH: Ready to take on the Fort Worth, Texas, venue, 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.
HONORING BARBARA WELLNITZ: The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation and The NASCAR Foundation have partnered together for the third time to recognize those who have battled cancer by auctioning off the space above the driver-side door to honor a cancer hero. For this Sunday’s race, Byron will have the name of Barbara Wellnitz riding on board his No. 24 Chevy, who was nominated by her son Paul Wellnitz. Known to always be the first to lend a helping hand, Wellnitz valued her family above everything and her favorite days were spent with making them happy. She was a NASCAR fan, especially of the No. 24 car, since the early 1990’s and passed that fandom on to her son. Unfortunately, Wellnitz lost her battle to cancer but was able to be reunited in the afterlife with her high school sweetheart and husband of 53 years who passed away just after her initial diagnosis.
LEADING THE WAY: With nine wins through the 29 NASCAR Cup Series races in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has earned the most victories so far this season. It is the only four-car team to see all of its drivers win a race this season. The organization is also the only one to have multiple drivers with at least two wins – Chase Elliott (four), Kyle Larson (two) and William Byron (two). On top of that, Elliott and Byron rank 1-2 in laps led this year.
FOUR SCORE: For the second straight season and third time in nine seasons, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers have reached the Round of 12 of the NASCAR playoffs. The quartet of Alex Bowman, Byron, Elliott and Larson did this in 2021. In the first year of the elimination-style playoff – 2014 – the foursome of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne each advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
1.5-MILE MUSCLE: In the season’s six races at 1.5-mile layouts, Hendrick Motorsports has notched the win three times. In March, Bowman and Byron won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, respectively. Elliott took the victory at Atlanta in July. On top of that, all four drivers – Elliott (second), Bowman (fourth), Larson (sixth) and Byron (seventh) are in the top seven in points scored on that track length.
TEXAS TRENDS: The Rick Hendrick-owned organization has 10 points-paying wins at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson accounts for seven of those and he also holds the track record for most all-time Cup Series wins. Gordon, Larson and Terry Labonte each have one win at the 1.5-mile venue. Over the past 18 points-paying races at the Fort Worth, Texas, facility, the team has a series-best seven wins.
PLAYOFF BOSSES IN FRONT OF BIG HOSS: In 17 playoff races at Texas, Hendrick Motorsports has won a Cup Series-best six times. Johnson is responsible for five wins, while Larson’s win last year in the Round of 8 stands as the other victory.
1-2 STEP: In 2021, at the track known for “No Limits,” Larson and Byron placed first and second in the event and combined to lead a whopping 93% of the laps run. The team’s 311 laps led fell just one short of matching the track record for laps led by a single team.
RECORD SETTERS: Hendrick Motorsports has posted a series-best 53 wins in the playoffs – 20 more than the next closest organization. Johnson has the most wins with 29. Among the current driver lineup, Elliott tops the board with six wins, followed by Larson with five and Bowman has one. Nine different drivers have won a playoff race for the team, which is the most in the Cup Series ranks. The company has won a race in the playoffs in 17 seasons and that mark is also the most among all Cup Series teams.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on preparation for Texas: “I’m interested to see how racing at Texas (Motor Speedway) goes this weekend. We’ve always had speed there but I think in the spring we just were a little off on our setup since it was the first time at Texas in the Next Gen car. Our mile-and-a-half program is the one I think we needed to work on the most this season but I think, especially after Kansas (Speedway) a few weeks ago, that we’ve really improved on those style of tracks. With how this round shapes up there’s a lot of emphasis on Texas and leaving there with as many points as possible and that will be our goal, just like how we did last round. As long as we have a good Saturday, I think we’ll be in a good place for the race and then it’s all about execution on Sunday.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he expects at Texas this weekend: “I think we have some good notes heading into this weekend’s race at Texas (Motor Speedway). We learned a lot from Kansas (Speedway) a couple weeks ago, and with us using the same tire as we did for that race, a good portion of those notes should translate. The biggest difference is going to be how much hotter it is and where the resin is applied on the track. From what we’ve been told, the resin is being applied like it was for the All-Star Race earlier this year, so we have those notes as well. Just with the heat and tire compound though, I think handling is going to play a much bigger factor this weekend than it did for the All-Star event. We’ve really focused on that this week, so we hopefully unload close to where we need to be and focus more on fine-tuning than anything.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
