This season, William Byron had a breakout year in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning six races and making the Championship 4. It was an almost perfect season for Byron. He just fell short when it came to the final race in Phoenix.
Still, there is a ton to be happy about for William Byron. When he won back-to-back at Phoenix and Las Vegas in the spring, he elevated the 24-car to a level it hadn’t seen since Jeff Gordon was behind the wheel.
Six wins, 15 top-five finishes, 21 top-10s, and 1,016 laps led. On top of that, he had nine stage wins. To put it simply, he was phenomenal in 2023. He had wins at Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington, Atlanta, Watkins Glen, and Texas.
A true show of versatility and talent. It’s all about the process.
“Just trusting our process,” Byron said about his breakthrough season, via Hendrick Motorsports. “As a team, we gained confidence and we got a great group. We worked hard together and we have all the tools and resources from Mr. Hendrick and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports to do our jobs. We went out there and were able to capitalize on a lot of things. I enjoyed it, but at the same time hungry for a lot more.”
What is great about this statement, William Byron is ready to get after it again. Since falling short at Phoenix, Byron has been racing Late Models. This weekend, he’s hoping to get a Snowball Derby win, but he has work to do.
Byron was fine in qualifying, but not great. He will start P13 for tomorrow’s big Late Model race at Five Flags Speedway.
William Byron keeping busy in the offseason
As a driver who is often dismissed as a former iRacing talent, William Byron sure gets after it in the offseason. Make no mistake about it, Byron is a racer, through and through. While he stays measured and even-handed at the race track on Sundays, he has an edge to him on the track.
He showed it in the South Carolina 400. He’s going to try and show it again in the Snowball Derby this weekend. With as many wins as he has in the Cup Series, especially after this season, Byron has nothing to prove to anyone, but he’s still proving folks wrong.
With a fully healthy Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman coming back next year, Hendrick Motorsports could have four playoff drivers again. The only issue is, are there enough wins for Kyle Larson, Byron, Bowman, and Elliott?
After this season, I think the Hendrick quartet can win between 12 to 15 races in 2024. It wouldn’t shock me if they went over that number, either. I think you can get five from Larson and Byron each, another three to five from Chase, and one or two from Bowman.
Is February here, yet?