
William Byron surveys the situation ahead of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas. (Photo: Patrick Vallely | NASCAR Digital Media)
LAS VEGAS — For William Byron and his No. 24 Relay Payments Chevrolet team, Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway represents more than just another mile-and-a-half race under the desert sun. It marks the start of the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, the point where every lap, pit stop, and strategy call could define whether a team earns the right to fight for a championship in Phoenix.
Byron, who will start fifth, enters the South Point 400 weekend with confidence and precision born of preparation. His Saturday showing in practice backed that up, as he logged the second-fastest single-lap speed and led the field in 10-lap consecutive averages. In a playoff field packed with proven champions and hungry contenders, Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet looked poised to deliver the kind of speed Hendrick Motorsports expects in these crucial late-season battles.
“The next round is the one we’ve put our focus on,” Byron said before hitting the track Saturday. “It’s what determines if you race for a championship. Everyone especially is going to put a lot of focus on this weekend’s race. It’s the easiest way to lock yourself in. Talladega is a bit of a crap shoot, and honestly, Martinsville hasn’t been our strongest in the fall. This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for though and hopefully we’re one of the four racing for a championship in Phoenix.”
That calculated mindset has carried Byron through a playoff run that, while not dominant on paper, has been methodical and consistent. Across the six postseason races so far, he’s delivered solid results that have kept his championship hopes alive. Even though he’s only recorded one finish better than ninth in that stretch, Byron remains upbeat about where his team stands heading into the most critical phase of the season.
“All that’s behind us, number one,” Byron said when asked about his playoff performance. “But we’ve done what we needed to do. We haven’t done maybe what we’ve wanted to do, but we’ve done what needs to be done to get to this point. So yeah, the real race starts this afternoon and then tomorrow. Not really looking much at the past, but I feel like we’re right where we need to be, at least from a preparation standpoint going into Vegas. I’m pretty optimistic about today and tomorrow.”
That optimism showed in his car’s demeanor throughout practice. The No. 24 Chevrolet looked planted in race trim, capable of maintaining strong corner exit speed while preserving tires over long runs. Byron, working closely with crew chief Rudy Fugle, spent most of Saturday refining balance and handling across the high and low grooves. The result was one of the most complete runs of the afternoon — one that suggested Byron and his team have found their rhythm at exactly the right time.

William Byron has incredible pace and confidence ahead of Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: John K. Harrelson | Nigel Kinrade Photography)
“Yeah, I mean good so far, right? Like, we haven’t really been on track, but feel good about our preparation this week,” Byron said. “I feel like we’ve done everything we can do to this point. So just get out there and see what we have on the racetrack and execute a good weekend overall and hopefully be where we want to be on Sunday night.”
The Las Vegas weekend offers Byron an immediate chance to shift the playoff narrative in his favor.
A win here doesn’t just mean a trophy. It would automatically secure his place in the Championship 4, freeing his team from the unpredictable challenges of Talladega Superspeedway and the tight confines of Martinsville Speedway.
“This is a big advantage,” Byron said. “If you can go out there and win, I feel like it gives your team an opportunity to prepare and look ahead. There’s a finite amount of time that we have to work on the car. So anytime you can get an extra week or two to prepare is going to be really good. And also just the momentum of winning gives you the confidence that if we’re up against that down the road, then we can do it. So I think it’s a really important thing.”
Momentum, preparation, and execution have been the hallmarks of Byron’s 2025 campaign. Across the season, the 26-year-old has blended speed with patience, building on lessons from past playoff heartbreaks to become one of the sport’s most well-rounded drivers. The No. 24 team’s approach to Las Vegas reflects that maturity: stay aggressive when the opportunity presents itself, but maintain control when the race turns chaotic.
Qualifying well was part of that plan. Byron stressed the importance of securing a top-10 starting position to control track position early and earn valuable stage points.
“I think it’s important to be in the top ten,” he said. “You’d like to be in the top ten to start this race. But with that being said, you could be 11th, 12th, 13th and be okay. I just don’t think you want to start in the 20s. You want to try to be up towards the front where you can at least make some passes and get some stage points. But this place is all about green-flag speed and trying to have the most pace once the field kind of gets strung out after a couple laps.”
Byron’s crew earned him the fifth starting spot for Sunday’s 400-mile race, giving the Charlotte, North Carolina, native the track position he was aiming for. That qualifying result, combined with his practice pace, signals that the No. 24 team has struck a balance between short-run quickness and long-run consistency, a combination that often defines winners at Las Vegas.
Pit road execution could also play a pivotal role. While Byron acknowledged that Las Vegas isn’t as unforgiving as some other tracks when it comes to pit box selection, he knows the small details can swing outcomes in races where tenths of a second matter.
“I think it’s important, but the stalls here are fairly wide and fairly long,” Byron explained. “There’s a little bit of curve to pit road, so it’s not like there’s necessarily a really bad stall here. It seems like there are some slick exits of some boxes, so having preference of which box to choose is important. But this isn’t a place where you’re going to necessarily get locked in. It’s important to have a good pit stall so you can give your guys the best chance to work. But it’s not like this place is the most critical.”
Throughout his rise in the Cup Series, Byron has thrived on building weekend momentum step by step. Practice sharpens the car’s handling; qualifying confirms the setup; race day execution ties it all together. That formula has brought him to the brink of championship contention more than once, and now, at the most pivotal point of the season, he appears ready to deliver again.

William Byron hopes he can captures his second Las Vegas win in Sunday’s South Point 400. (Photo: Patrick Vallely | NASCAR Digital Media)
While some playoff contenders enter Las Vegas with uncertainty, Byron and the No. 24 team have a clear sense of purpose. The focus is not on making up for missed chances but on seizing the moment ahead. The atmosphere around his garage stall this weekend has been steady and confident, mirroring a driver who knows the magnitude of the opportunity in front of him.
That focus could prove decisive. As Byron mentioned, Talladega and Martinsville offer unpredictable variables that can derail even the best teams. In contrast, Las Vegas rewards preparation and mechanical grip, areas where Hendrick Motorsports has historically excelled. Byron’s task is to translate those strengths into one of the most meaningful wins of his career.
His Saturday performance suggests that possibility is well within reach. With one of the fastest cars in the field and a team operating with quiet precision, Byron’s No. 24 entry stands as one of the early favorites for victory. But as he’s quick to point out, nothing is guaranteed in a playoff race.
Still, there’s a quiet confidence in his voice — one that signals both belief and readiness. He’s not thinking about Talladega chaos or Martinsville’s tight turns yet. His full attention is on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, when the green flag waves and the real battle for a championship berth begins.
Byron has been building toward this kind of moment all year: a chance to define his playoff run not through damage control, but through dominance. If the speed he showed on Saturday carries into race day, he may very well turn that potential into something much more tangible — a victory that puts him one step closer to the sport’s ultimate prize.
Rob Tiongson is a sports writer and editor originally from the Boston area and resides in the Austin, Texas, area. Tiongson has covered motorsports series like NASCAR and INDYCAR since 2008 and NHRA since 2013. Most recently, Tiongson is covering professional basketball, mainly the WNBA, and women's college basketball. While writing and editing for The Podium Finish, Tiongson currently seeks for a long-term sportswriting and sports content creating career. Tiongson enjoys editing and writing articles and features, as well as photography. Moreover, he enjoys time with his family and friends, traveling, cooking, working out and being a fun uncle or "funcle" to his nephew, niece and cat. Tiongson is an alum of Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and St. Bonaventure University's renowned Jandoli School of Communication with a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism.
