24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 25 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 14th
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
24 POWER: William Byron and the No. 24 team are off to a hot start in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. Through eight points-paying races, Byron tops most statistical categories including wins (two), stage wins (five), laps run in the top five (1,139) and laps run in the top 10 (1,402). He is second in laps led (385) to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (438). The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is also tied for the most top-10 finishes in a stage (11).
STAGE WINNER: During the 2023 season, Byron has five stage wins – the most of any driver. In fact, he’s won stage one in four of the last six races this season. This also marks the most stage wins for him in a season – surpassing his four stage wins in 2021 and 2022. His five stage wins are tied for the most stage wins by a driver in the first eight races.
SHORT-TRACK SUCCESS: Heading into the second short-track race of 2023, Byron is no stranger to success at this type of track. Since the start of 2022, he has led the most laps on short tracks (451) and has collected the second-most points (234). In his last eight short-track races, Byron has one win, five top-five finishes, six top-10s, 451 laps led, an average starting position of 10.00 and an average finish of 7.13. Of those stats, his top-10 finishes and average finish rank the best of all drivers with his top-five finishes tied for the most among all competitors.
MARTINSVILLE MINUTES: Despite his young age, Byron’s time at Martinsville Speedway goes back to when he attended his first Cup Series race at the paperclip-shaped track in 2006 as a fan. Since then, the 25-year-old driver has moved through the NASCAR ranks and is now poised to make his 11th Cup Series start there. Of his previous 10 starts at the .526-mile short track, Byron has one win (April 2022), four top-five finishes (his most at a track), six top-10s (tied for his most at a track) with 221 laps led (his third-most laps led at a track). In fact, he is one of six drivers, along with teammate Chase Elliott, to finish in the top 10 in both Martinsville races last year. Byron currently holds the second-longest top-10 streak there with four. Over the last seven races there, he has the second-most top-10 finishes (six).
THE FUGLE FILES: This Sunday’s race will mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s fifth in the Cup Series at Martinsville. In his first four Cup Series starts, Fugle has one win (April 2022), three top-five finishes and four top-10s with the No. 24 team. Aside from his Cup Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has 14 races already under his belt at the Virginia venue, all in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In those 14 races, Fugle has accumulated one win (May 2019), six top-five finishes and 12 top-10s. Two of those previous starts were with Byron, both in 2016, where the duo started seventh in both races and raced to a third-place result in the spring and an eighth-place finish in the fall.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: The No. 24 pit crew has an average four-tire pit stop time of 11.224 – the best average in the field. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler). They also had the fastest four-tire pit stop in the season-opening DAYTONA 500 at 11.278 seconds.
GOT 99 PROBLEMS, BUT WINNING AIN’T ONE: With his two victories to start the year, Byron continues to make his mark on the legacy of the No. 24 at the Cup Series level. Those two wins bring the No. 24 one victory away from 100. Currently fifth with 99 wins, the No. 24 is only behind the No. 3 with 101, the No. 2 with 102 wins, the No. 43 with 200 wins and the No. 11 with 228 wins on the all-time list. In fact, the No. 24 has 10 wins at Martinsville alone – with one of those being Byron’s. Those 10 wins are tied with another Hendrick Motorsports number, the No. 48, for the third-most by a car number at the short track.
LIBERTY U IS BACK: This Sunday, Byron will sport his Liberty University paint scheme for the third time in the 2023 season. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be sure to stand out on track. The school has a long history with Byron starting back in 2014 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 strategic communication, Byron is now in his junior year through its online program.
CLOSING IN ON 300: Hendrick Motorsports is six points-paying victories away from 300 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Twenty drivers have combined to reach the organization’s current total of 294 wins, which is the most in the sport by any one team. Their first win came at Martinsville Speedway in April 1984 with Geoff Bodine behind the wheel. With three wins this season, Hendrick Motorsports has posted its 36th multi-win season in the Cup Series. In each of the last 30 seasons, the organization has won at least two races.
BACK ON THE BOX: Sunday’s race at Martinsville will see the return of Cliff Daniels (No. 5), Alan Gustafson (No. 9), Rudy Fugle (No. 24) and Blake Harris (No. 48) as the crew chiefs for their respective teams. All four crew chiefs had been suspended for the previous four races due to penalties enforced by NASCAR.
IN THE KNOW: This weekend’s action will use the rules package designed to have a decrease in downforce for most short ovals and road courses. Hendrick Motorsports has won two of the three races with this rules package: William Byron (at Phoenix Raceway) and Kyle Larson (at Richmond Raceway). In the event of damp conditions, teams will be able to use “wet weather equipment” at the short track.
CLOCKING IN: With its 27 victories at the paperclip-shaped track, Hendrick Motorsports holds the Cup Series record for the most wins at a single circuit. Eight different drivers (the greatest number of different winners at Martinsville) have won at this track for the organization, led by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with nine victories apiece. Darrell Waltrip recorded four wins. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bodine and current drivers Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott have each taken home one Martinsville victory. The team is the only one to lead over 10,000 laps at any one track with 10,501 circuits out front.
SPRING REWIND: Byron won the 2022 spring event at the .526-mile track for the organization’s series-best 27th victory at the Virginia venue. On the night, Hendrick Motorsports led a dominating 397 of 403 laps. At 98.51%, the performance set a record for the organization’s highest percentage of laps led in a single race.
STUDYING THE TRENDS: The 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization has won three of the last five Martinsville races and one race at the facility over the past three seasons. Elliott’s playoff win in 2020 marked the start of that stretch. Then, Bowman won in October 2021 and Byron visited victory lane last spring.
NO SHORTAGE: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active Cup Series teams with 56 points-paying victories on short tracks – 11 more than the next closest team. Gordon leads all drivers in team history with 17 short-track wins.
VICTORY IN VIRGINIA: Team owner Rick Hendrick grew up in Palmer Springs, Virginia, and his teams have won 39 Cup Series races in his home state. Hendrick Motorsports has gone to victory lane in Virginia at least one time in 28 different seasons, including the past four. The past 10 races in Virginia have seen one of his drivers emerge victorious on five occasions with each of the four active drivers winning.
STAGE SAVANTS: With seven stage wins in 2023, Hendrick Motorsports has the most stage wins in the series. Those stage wins have come between two drivers – Byron (five) and Larson (two). The seven stage triumphs through eight races are tied for the second-most by one team in Cup Series history. The team’s eight stage wins in 2020 stand as the most stage wins at this point in one season.
WINNING WAYS: Since the start of the 2021 season, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers rank among the top-six winningest drivers in the Cup Series. Larson’s 14 wins top the board, followed by Elliott’s seven. Byron and Bowman are in a three-way tie for fourth with five victories each.
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Elliott is tied for the most wins since the launch of the Next Gen car (in 2022) with five victories. In that span, Larson and Byron each have four wins, which is tied with two other drivers for third.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his thoughts about Martinsville: “Martinsville (Speedway) means a lot to me. I remember going there as a kid. Then, getting the win last April, especially with everything that was going on with my family, it meant a lot. I’ve always run well there, short tracks in general really. I think we have had really strong cars there lately, but we do have some room for improvement from the fall race last year. With how we’re running this season, though, I’m optimistic for this weekend.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what’s important at Martinsville: “I feel like we’ve always run well at Martinsville (Speedway). Not only run well but we finish well. I think the biggest thing, though, to be good there is to put together a solid weekend. We learned that in the fall when we didn’t qualify well and it put us behind almost all race. Qualifying is important any time, but it’s probably most important at a place like Martinsville. If we have a good Saturday, it will propel us to have a good Sunday, and that’s out goal this weekend.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
