24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 26 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 6th
No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
24 IN ’24: William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has been impressive. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is tied for the series lead in wins (three), is in a six-way tie for second in top-five finishes with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman (four) and a two-way tie for the most top-10s (seven). He’s spent 708 laps running in the top five (ninth-most) and 1,526 laps in the top 10 (sixth-most). Byron is also fifth in average finishing position among series regulars (12.09) and sixth in the 2024 Cup Series points standings after 11 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. Byron also has the second-best average finish (13.11) behind Elliott in the Next Gen car. Overall, Fugle and Byron rank fourth for the most wins by an active driver and crew chief pairing with 12 victories.
1.5-MILE MAGIC: Byron is no stranger to success on mile-and-a-half tracks during his Cup Series career. Since the start of 2021 (not counting races on Atlanta Motor Speedway after its reprofiling for 2022), he has three wins, two runner-up finishes, 10 top-fives and 18 top-10s in 25 races on 1.5-mile tracks. In the Next Gen car, Byron has two wins (second to teammate Kyle Larson’s three) and has collected 600 points on mile-and-a-half tracks – the most of all drivers. He also has five consecutive top-10 finishes on 1.5-mile tracks – the longest active streak by a driver – and eight top-10s in his last nine races on that track length. This season alone, Byron is tied for the sixth-most points on 1.5-milers (63), tied for the second-best average finish (6.50) with Elliott and is one of only two drivers to finish in the top 10 in both of those races.
MIDWEST MOJO: Byron has 12 Cup Series starts at Kansas Speedway. While he faced bad luck in his first three races there, he has turned that around. In his last nine starts at the 1.5-mile track, Byron has collected one pole award, two top-five finishes and seven top-10s (second-most among all drivers in that span). It is also the track where Byron has the most top-10 finishes in his premier series career (seven), tied with Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway.
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE KANSAS: Looking to make his seventh start as a Cup Series crew chief at Kansas, Rudy Fugle’s six Cup Series races at the Midwest track have resulted in one pole award, one top-five finish, four top-10s and 101 laps led with the No. 24 team. Aside from those six Cup Series starts, the Livonia, New York, native has 12 previous starts at the 1.5-mile oval, with 10 coming in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In those 10 Truck Series starts, Fugle’s drivers have started from the top spot four times, led 391 laps, collected two wins (2016 and 2018), five top-five finishes and six top-10s. His 2016 win came with Byron, who captured his first Truck Series victory in their fourth start together.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 11 races in the 2024 season, the No. 24 pit crew has been one of the best on pit road. The five-person crew ranks third for the fastest average four-tire pit stop (10.980 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).
RAPTOR® TOUGH: For the first time since his win at Circuit of The Americas, Byron will sport his RAPTOR paint scheme that will run the majority of the season on the No. 24 Chevy. RAPTOR® is a durable protective coating designed to tolerate the toughest climatic conditions and can be applied to a wide range of items, including truck beds, lawnmowers, outdoor furniture and more. With 16 pre-mixed colors available, it’s easy to personalize anything you want to protect. RAPTOR® is available at local paint distributors, auto parts stores and online retailers.
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 (80,649) and championships (14). Their next top-five finish will be its 1,250th and mark the first time that a team has reached that milestone.
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 11 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 matches the team’s second-best start (in 1997 and 2022), with 2007’s eight wins through 11 races as the best start to a campaign in organizational history.
SCORING STAGE WINS: Since the advent of stage racing in 2017, Hendrick Motorsports has two of the three drivers that have recorded six stage wins through the first 11 races of a season. Byron earned six stage wins in 2023 and Larson joined that list with a stage victory at Dover Motor Speedway last Sunday. No driver has ever had seven stage wins through 12 races.
PIT POWER: Based on Racing Insights data, all four Hendrick Motorsports pit crews rank in the top six among Cup Series teams for the fastest average four-tire pit stop. The No. 9 pit crew tops the board (10.750 seconds), followed by the No. 24 pit crew in third (10.980 seconds), the No. 5 pit crew in fourth (10.983 seconds) and the No. 48 pit crew is sixth (11.186 seconds).
POWER IN THE PLAINS: With eight wins, the team is tied for the most victories among all Cup Series organizations at Kansas Speedway. Team vice chairman Jeff Gordon won the first race at the track in 2001 and earned three wins in total at the 1.5-mile oval. Jimmie Johnson also posted three wins at the Kansas City, Kansas, venue. Elliott and Larson each have one triumph. The team’s 2,116 laps out front at the facility are also the best among all teams in the series.
HEY HEY HEY: Last year in the two races at Kansas, the team tallied a series-best three top-five finishes, six top-10s and 246 laps led. Larson finished in the top five in both events, while Elliott placed in the top 10 in each race. Byron scored a pole and a top-five finish in the spring, while Alex Bowman earned a top-10 in the fall. Larson (81) and Elliott (71) ranked third and fifth, respectively, in points scored.
KICKING IT AT KANSAS: Kansas has hosted four Cup Series races since the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022. In that span, Larson is one of two drivers to finish inside the top 10 in each race. Bowman has finished in the top 10 in all three races he’s run — he missed the spring race last year due to an injury. Over those four races, Larson has the most laps led (213) and Bowman has the third-most circuits out front (107). Since 2022, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are in the top 10 of average finish at the 1.5-mile track (among drivers with more than one start) — Larson is second (4.00), Bowman is third (7.66), Byron is fifth (10.00) and Elliott is 10th (13.25). When it comes to points per race, the quartet is also all in the top 10 at Kansas — Larson ranks second (38.5), Bowman is sixth (33), Elliott holds down seventh (32.5) and Byron sits 10th (30.5).
NEXT GEN NUMBERS: Team owner Rick Hendrick’s seven wins on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car lead all organizations in the Cup Series, with the next closest teams having three triumphs. Two of those victories have come in both races this season on 1.5-mile tracks, with Larson at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Elliott at Texas Motor Speedway. Since 2022, Larson has a series-best three wins on 1.5-mile tracks, while Byron has had two victories and they are two of the four drivers with multiple victories on that track length. Bowman and Elliott have each had one triumph on this track length in this period. Over the last 11 races on 1.5-milers, Larson and Byron are the only repeat winners. In addition, Byron (600) and Larson (592) rank one-two in points earned on 1.5-milers in the Next Gen era.
SWEEP SENSATIONS: In four of Hendrick Motorsports’ seven Next Gen wins on 1.5-mile tracks, a driver has swept the stages en route to the win. Larson did this in all three of his victories on 1.5-mile tracks (Homestead-Miami Speedway in October of 2022 and Las Vegas in October of 2023 and March of 2024) and Byron accomplished it in one of his wins (Las Vegas in March of 2023).
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on racing at Kansas: “Kansas (Speedway) is a place where you spend a lot of time running up against the wall, which is always a risk. I feel like it’s a track that has had a lot of great finishes lately due to tire fall off and how easily the balance of cars can change throughout the run. Restarts are intense and you can really fan out to pick up positions. At the same time, you don’t want to go too hard early on, so you can save some of what you have to have something left on the long run. I think that’s why the finishes end up being so close in the end because you see a lot of late-race charges from those who saved.”
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the importance of the next stretch of races: “Starting this weekend, the upcoming stretch of races before the two-week break are all a build up to the playoffs. These are all mainly mile-and-a-half or high-speed tracks that you will then see again in the playoffs. You want to make sure you’re continuing to learn and grow and getting better, so you’re bringing your best cars when it counts. At the same time, this stretch of races has new tracks but also tracks with repaves, so there are still a lot of unknowns. Some setups may transfer over some weeks, but the races in the next month hold the most opportunities for notes that will carry over after the summer stretch.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
