The thrill of winning the Great American Race is a feeling that never goes away.
For William Byron, that moment came last year at the famed 2.5-mile Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway as he drove the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet back to victory lane. Jeff Gordon won three Daytona 500s sporting the same car number.
As Byron attempts to become only the fifth driver to go back-to-back in the event, he feels “more joy coming down here than I did before.”
“I have more passion and excitement for this race than I did before,” Byron explained. “I feel like having experienced it the way it was last year really changed my perspective on the race as a whole in a good way, obviously. I feel that’s created some more motivation to get another one.”
The magnitude of victory in the 500-mile race earns a driver their own title for life — Daytona 500 winner.
“This race, it’s a lifetime achievement,” Byron said. “It’s something people reference everywhere you go. It’s something that the first time in my career I’ve had something like that.
“It makes it cool, it makes it more special, because you can tell people care about the race.”
While Byron broke through last year, the challenge of making it to the end of the race has become increasingly difficult with the introduction of the Next Gen race car in 2022.
With the car becoming more of an equalizer in the sport, it makes passing considerably more difficult on superspeedways than in prior years.
“The racing has just got really tight and competitive, and everybody is sort of in a really tight gridlock,” Byron began. “So it’s really hard to make moves. Three-wide is tough to make.
“I feel like you’ve got to be up toward the front. Track position is really important and you have to be towards the front side coming down to the end.
“I think in the past, that was the case, but you could see a guy win from 10th on the last lap. I just don’t think that’ll happen in this package anymore.”
Entering the weekend, HMS is tied with Petty Enterprises for the most Daytona 500 victories (nine).
If Byron or one of his teammates — Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott or Alex Bowman — snag another Harley J. Earl Trophy on Sunday, it’ll be the latest record that team owner Rick Hendrick has accomplished in the NASCAR Cup Series.
