24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 26 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 4th
No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
STEADY STREAKING: Avoiding mayhem during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, William Byron came home with stage points and a top-10 finish, crossing the line in seventh in the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Sunday’s result marks his fifth consecutive top-10 finish this season – currently tied for the longest top-10 streak in the series.
24 IN ’24: Byron’s 2024 Cup Series season has been impressive. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native leads the series in wins (three), is in a six-way tie for first in top-five finishes that includes Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman (four) and in a two-way tie for the lead in top-10s (seven). Byron is also tied for first in average finish among series regulars (10.00) and has led the sixth-most laps (149). He sits fourth in the 2024 Cup Series points standings after 10 races.
NEXT GEN DUO: Since the Next Gen Cup Series car was introduced in 2022, Byron and crew chief Rudy Fugle have a series-leading 11 wins. The duo is ahead of teammates Larson (eight wins) and crew chief Cliff Daniels (seven wins). Byron also has the second-best average finish (12.87) in the Next Gen car behind teammate Chase Elliott. Fugle and Byron rank fourth for the most wins by an active driver and crew chief pairing with 12 victories.
SIMILAR IN SIZE: This Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway will mark Byron’s 45th start on tracks 1 to 1.37 miles in length (Darlington Raceway, Dover, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway and WWT Raceway). In his previous 44 starts, the 26-year-old driver has collected two pole awards, two wins, 10 top-five finishes, 19 top-10s and 535 laps led.
DOVER DIGEST: With nine Cup Series starts under his belt at the Delaware track, Byron has three top-five finishes at Dover, all being fourth-place efforts over the last four races. Since the inception of the Next Gen car, Byron has spent 308 laps running in the top five—the fifth-most of any driver—and 555 laps in the top 10—fourth-most of the field.
MONSTER MILE MINUTES: This Sunday’s race will be Fugle’s fourth at the Cup Series level at the “Monster Mile,” finishing fourth in two of those three previous races, including last year’s 400-miler. The Livonia, New York, native has 11 other national series starts at the 1-mile track already under his belt, with eight in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Fugle captured one Truck Series win (in 2013) and one of those previous starts was with Byron (in 2016), where the duo started on the pole, led 80 laps and raced to an 11th-place result.
TWO-FOUR HISTORY: With Byron’s three wins thus far in 2024, he has extended the legacy of the No. 24 in the Cup Series. The No. 24 has five wins at Dover—all coming with team vice chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon. If Byron visits victory lane on Sunday, it will propel the No. 24 into a tie with the No. 9 for the fourth-most wins by a car number at the “Monster Mile.”
PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 10 races in the 2024 season, the No. 24 pit crew continues their success from last year. The five-person crew ranks second for the fastest average four-tire pit stop (11.060 seconds). 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).
LIBERTY U IS BACK: Byron will sport Liberty University on board his No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the third weekend in a row. Featuring a white base with navy flames and red accents, the Liberty University No. 24 will surely stand out on track. Liberty University has a long history with Byron, starting in 2014 in the late model ranks. Liberty University has been Training Champions for Christ since its founding in 1971. Located in the mountains of Central Virginia, Liberty is a liberal arts institution with 17 colleges and schools that offer 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 in his junior year at Liberty University through its online program.
FABULOUS 40: In 2024, Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Among the categories that the organization holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for are all-time wins (306), poles (250), laps led (80,574) and championships (14).
DORTON NOMINATED: Engine builder Randy Dorton was named one of 15 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Dorton served as the director of engine operations for Hendrick Motorsports up until his passing in an Oct. 24, 2004, plane accident. His development, leadership and management of the engine program had a tremendous impact on Hendrick Motorsports – both in the organization’s rise to prominence as the team to beat in the Cup Series ranks and its innovation. The Hendrick Motorsports engine department has earned 513 NASCAR national series wins. Three-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Jack Sprague, crew chief Harry Hyde and driver Ricky Rudd are the other nominees with Hendrick Motorsports ties on the ballot. Click here to learn more about the nominee list.
HENDRICK HOMECOMING: On May 24 and 25, Hendrick Motorsports will hold “Hendrick Homecoming.” The free fan event, taking place over the same weekend as the Coca-Cola 600 and Indianapolis 500, will celebrate the organization’s 40th anniversary and feature autograph sessions with past and present drivers, games, displays, giveaways and more. For more information on the schedule of appearances (as they are announced) and how fans can register to enter the raffle for autograph sessions, click here.
WINNING TRIO: In 2024, William Byron (three wins), Chase Elliott (one win) and Kyle Larson (one win) have combined to tally five wins through the first 10 races of the season. The Concord, North Carolina, based squad has won at least five races in a year in 22 of the last 24 seasons. The five-victory start to this year is the team’s second-best start, with 2007’s seven wins through 10 races as the best start to a campaign in organizational history.
PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top seven among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 9 pit crew tops the board (10.858 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in second (11.060 seconds) and the No. 5 pit crew in third (11.088 seconds). The No. 48 pit crew is seventh (11.331 seconds).
THE FIRST STATE: Dover Motor Speedway is one of three racetracks where Hendrick Motorsports has posted more than 20 points-paying wins. The team’s 22 victories at the Delaware venue is one more than its total at Charlotte Motor Speedway and surpassed only by its 29 at Martinsville Speedway, which represents the record for wins by any team at a track. The team has won 28.57% (22 of 77) of the Cup Series races at Dover and led 7,549 laps (second only to its total at Martinsville). No other team has won more than 10 Cup Series races at the 1-mile track.
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Seven different drivers have contributed to Hendrick Motorsports’ Dover win total: Jimmie Johnson (11 victories), team vice chairman Jeff Gordon (five), Elliott (two), Bowman, Rudd, Geoff Bodine and Ken Schrader (one each).
MONSTER MOMENT: The “Monster Mile” is home to Hendrick Motorsports’ only sweep of the top-four finishing positions in a race. In 2021, Bowman, Larson, Elliott and Byron placed first, second, third and fourth, respectively. It marked only the fourth time in Cup Series history that any team accomplished this feat. At Titusville-Cocoa Speedway in December of 1956, Peter DePaolo Racing’s five-car effort became the first to record a top-four sweep and repeated the achievement in April of 1957 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Forty-eight years later, Roush Fenway Racing did it in November of 2005 with four of its five entries at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In this race, Hendrick Motorsports’ percentage of laps led (95.50%; 382 of 400 laps led) is the second-most for a single event in team history. The top-four sweep is one of four times that the group has held at least the top-three spots of the final running order, with the most recent coming earlier this month at Martinsville in their 40th anniversary race.
DOVER DETAILS: Since the start of 2019, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are among the six active drivers with at least three top-five finishes at Dover. Bowman shares the lead in this statistical category with five top-five finishes, Elliott has four top-fives and Byron and Larson have three top-fives.
GOING STREAKING: The 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization has two win streaks of at least three races at the concrete track in Dover, Delaware. There was a four-race win streak from September of 2013 to May of 2015 and a three-race run from September of 1995 to September of 1996. The Rick Hendrick-owned team has had a driver finish in the top 10 at this track in 24 straight races, the longest top-10 streak at the track by one organization.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what he likes about racing at Dover: “I love this race track (Dover Motor Speedway). It’s really fast and puts on a good race. You get good restarts with short runs and side-by-side racing. Then, there are times you get long runs where your car has to handle and adapt to the track taking rubber. As good as the racing is, it can be treacherous in practice and qualifying. You tend to see accidents and tire failures happen on Saturday because everyone’s car is so on edge. Last year, we had a really good car and I’m looking forward to improving on that this weekend.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on where the No. 24 team can improve: “This year we haven’t really led as many laps and collected as many stage points or stage wins. In past years, we usually qualified up front and that set us up to really control things early on in the race. We sometimes would have troubles, though, in the second half of the race and fall back. We have really worked on our consistency to get better throughout races, but I would really like to get some more stage points, wins and to lead more laps. That’s what we think the next step is. We’ll keep grinding and work on being more complete as a team.”
TIL NEXT TIME,I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
