Entering this season, William Byron had four NASCAR Cup Series victories over the span of his first five seasons.
With 11 races left on the year, Byron has more than doubled his win total after notching a series-leading fifth victory of the season at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l on Sunday.
What’s been the key to Byron’s breakout season?
Hendrick Motorsports’ Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon believes it’s a combination of confidence and the ever-growing relationship with crew chief Rudy Fugle and his team.
“For us internally, it’s just been this nice progression to see he and Rudy clicking, the team, and just everything coming together this year, and then the race cars are there, the pit stops are there, and William is doing a phenomenal job and you can see his confidence is there and racing with some of the best out there on a road course today and with a lot of pressure on the restarts,” Gordon said.
“To be able to get to the lead, he did it perfectly today. Just goes to show you his maturity and his confidence and just what that team is capable of, but at the same time, I think they’ll tell you they needed to get some momentum back.”
While the 25-year-old’s explosion of success may be a surprise to some, he and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team had a quiet confidence.
“I think we knew that we could do that. We knew we were capable. It’s just last year was tough with the new car,” Byron said. “We hit the ground running, and we had some good results early. Even back to testing, we were really fast in testing.
“Then it seemed like the car evolved, and we struggled to kind of adapt and evolve with it a little bit through the summer and in the fall we showed up with a lot of speed again,” Byron continued.
“I think in the fall last year saw a lot of potential. It was really us and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) throughout the playoffs in terms of average finish and running position. I think the start of this year, started to roll really smooth, and then we just kind of got into a rhythm.”
Getting into a rhythm during the summer months has admittedly been a struggle for Byron. Prior to his win at Watkins Glen, his last top-10 finish came six races ago where he won a rain-shortened race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“We’ve had a tough four races I would say. But we’ve had speed at I think three of the four,” Byron said. “Indy comes to mind, Michigan and Pocono (Pa.). Then the other ones we didn’t quite have the speed or we had issues during the race.
“Yeah, it’s just part of the ebbs and flows of the season, I think, that you want to be on kill for 38, but it’s really hard to just be good every single week.
“I think it naturally was kind of a little bit of a reset for us and try to get ready for the playoffs.”
Byron sits atop the playoff leaderboard with five wins and a series-best eight stage wins.
As Byron and the No. 24 team zero in on the 10-week dash to a potential championship, they’ll have prime positioning to start the playoffs.