William Byron talking to seven-time Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson during practice and qualifying on Saturday. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)
AVONDALE, Ariz. – A quiet and relatively uneventful day was not what the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team of William Byron hoped for on NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race weekend.
Byron had an opportunity to book-end his 2024 season with a championship in the Arizona desert, along with his Daytona 500 win back in February. After narrowly squeezing into the Championship 4 at Martinsville last weekend, Byron had high hopes for the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“I think we haven’t won yet, so that’s where I look at it is we’ve been right there, we’ve been on the cusp,” Byron said in a NASCAR Inside the Playoffs interview. “Honestly, [in] Martinsville, we brought some of the best performance we’ve had and I can’t wait to bring that to Phoenix.”
Starting in the eighth position, the No. 24 team was confident in their chances. Crew chief Rudy Fugle believed that they lost their shot at the 2023 championship due to making the incorrect adjustments. He was determined to get the adjustments right this time around.
Byron drew the No. 1 pit stall on pit road and after No. 2 pit stall holder Ty Gibbs’ unfortunate early exit from the race on Lap 2, Byron had even more space for pit road entry and exit. Things were looking good for the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet right off the bat.
William Byron on-track at Phoenix Raceway for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)
However, the majority of the race passed by in a relatively unremarkable fashion for Byron. He hovered in fourth place lap after lap, finishing in that position in both Stages 1 and 2.
The tides turned for Byron when Fugle made the call for him to stay out while Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney came down pit road for green flag stops in Stage 3. The goal was for him to stay out for another 15-20 laps and get back on track with the freshest tires in the field, which could have been the championship-winning call.
One lap after Byron came to pit road, a caution waved, giving the other three championship contenders the opportunity to get fresh tires and even the score. Byron restarted on the inside of the front row on Lap 259, but his lead was not meant to last as Logano made a three-wide pass on the inside of Byron and Christopher Bell for the lead.
“I think going into the restart, I thought I had enough of a buffer and I didn’t really feel like one lap on tires was that big a deal,” Byron said regarding that restart in the post-race media conference. “I don’t think it was. I think they were just fast on the short run all weekend and that was kind of our struggle. We were decent throughout the run, but we couldn’t really take off with a ton of speed. It wasn’t a huge surprise. They were on me a little bit quicker than I thought they would be.”
William Byron racing during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. (Photo: Ricky Martinez | The Podium Finish)
As Logano drove away towards his third career Cup championship, Byron lost second to Blaney, resulting in a third-place finish in the Cup Series season finale. After three victories and an average finish of 12.9 for the season, the No. 24 finished third in the championship standings. Byron led a total of 19 laps, but unfortunately, none of them were the final lap.
“We gave everything we had, so that’s something to be proud of,” Byron said post-race. “Even on the strategy side, we had to do something different. We were behind the two Penske guys and Rudy made a great call and got us the lead. We tried to hold it off, but just couldn’t. Really proud of the effort. I feel like our team grew a lot this year.
“Overall, our year was really special.”
