William Byron is prepared to fight for a Championship 4 spot ahead of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — Going into Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), William Byron finds himself in an envious position by possessing the fourth and final Championship 4 spot.
The only catch is he must retain this coveted ticket to Phoenix Raceway by tallying enough points ahead of the likes of Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott.
Then again, Byron, the reigning DAYTONA 500 champion, is used to high pressure situations. Larson, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, trails him by only seven points and Elliott, while expressing confidence after Homestead, is essentially in a must win situation.
Still, the native of Charlotte, North Carolina, is not concerned about his internal competition, much less, those outside the Hendrick campus.
“I don’t care. I’ll see him [Larson] on the racetrack,” Byron said during Saturday’s availabilities. “I know that the difference is so slim that it’s really about running up front and trying to win. For me, we’re all competitors. We respect each other a lot, and respect is really what it’s all about once you get out there.”
Throughout Byron’s NASCAR Cup Series career, he is a sportsman on the track, rarely getting into a scuffle with his teammates and competitors. From the fresh-faced 20-year-old rookie in 2018 to the respected 25-year-old perennial contender in 2024, he is a voice of reason with his No. 24 team and the Hendrick campus.
Byron’s patented quiet confidence was prevalent during Saturday’s on track sessions. Posting the 11th overall fastest time and 12th quickest in a 10-lap consecutive average, he qualified third, a drastic improvement from his 18th starting position in April’s spring race.
William Byron dives into Turn 3 at Martinsville Speedway with confidence and levelheadedness for the Xfinity 500. (Photo: Joshua White | The Podium Finish)
Earlier this year, Byron marched his way to eighth place finishes in Stages 1 and 2 before leading 88 of the final 89 laps to win his second grandfather clock at Martinsville. Although it his most recent Cup win, it was a testament to how dedicated he was to improving his form after last year’s taxing Xfinity 500.
In the penultimate race of 2023, Byron struggled with the intense heat and an ill handling car. Pushing through those challenges, he persevered with a 13th place result, doing more than enough to lock a Championship 4 spot.
Despite the admirable effort, Byron and his No. 24, spearheaded by crew chief Rudy Fugle, do not intend to repeat that performance for Sunday’s 500-lap race.
“Given the situation we were in, it was tough and I don’t want to relive that,” Byron observed. “We can’t relive that this year. If we went and ran like we did last year, we wouldn’t definitely wouldn’t make it.
“So we’ve got to show up with the approach we had in the spring, which was that it was an important weekend and we wanted to win it. And now we’re back in that position and can’t wait to get out there in my car.”
William Byron, all suited up during Saturday’s on track sessions, looks forward to 500 laps of racing at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Joshua White | The Podium Finish)
Sunday’s race at least offers spectacular autumn weather when it starts shortly after 2 p.m. ET and concludes just before 6:30 p.m. ET when the nighttime skies overlook the paperclip-shaped track. It may not be the beautiful, fall foliage drive along a Virginia interstate near the mountainside, but Byron will not be cooking inside the cockpit like last year.
“Yeah, it’s similar, for sure,” Byron mused. “I think it’s the same temperature [on Sunday], so 65 degrees. So now we’ve done a lot of things inside the car to help me an honestly a lot of things off the track too that I’ve gotten better at [with working out]. So I feel like yeah, I’m not worried about the, the heat or anything.”
Another thing going for Byron is his rapport with his Hendrick teammates even as he, Larson and Elliott pursue the two remaining Championship 4 spots. At most, two will emerge from Martinsville elated while the other will need to reconcile the heartache of watching four other drivers fight for the title next Sunday at Phoenix.
“We’re still going to work really well together off the racetrack and even on the racetrack,” he shared. “We’re going to have a lot of respect for each other. But once you get in the race, it’s going to be every man for himself.
“And you’re going to go out there and do the best you can for your team so that’s just trying to make the most [of each] lap time, trying to make good decisions on the racetrack. But off the racetrack, when it comes to talking about what our cars do I’m sure our, our debrief will be just as open as it always is.”
