After entering the NASCAR Cup scene at a fairly young age, 2023 is the year William Byron has finally announced himself on the biggest stage. Taking over the legendary #24 after Jeff Gordon, there was always bound to be pressure on Byron, something tangibly visible at times. But with five wins already in the regular season, Byron is being looked at as a championship contender for the first time in his career. And if Kyle Petty’s words are anything to go by, the similarities with Jeff Gordon don’t end with just the car number.
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Speaking after the win at Watkins Glen, the NASCAR analyst spoke about the dominance of Byron, which was long-time coming, considering the varied experience the #24 driver has had at a relatively young age.
Petty hypes up William Byron for ‘Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon-type season’
Speaking on NASCAR America Motormouths with 1999 Cup Series champion Dale Jarrett and Marty Snider, Petty was all in on the Hendrick Motorsports driver. The veteran said, “Yeah listen, five wins in a season, after we went through last season and we thought we were going to have 36 different winners. I never thought we would see another season like this from a driver really. I mean, it made me question whether we were going to see five, six, seven wins.”
“He could have that Kevin Harvick, that Jeff Gordon-type season where you have eight, nine, ten wins by the time we rolled through the playoffs, they’re that type of team. He and Rudy are that type of group, where they can get hot. They can get cold, and we’ve seen them go cold through the summers the last couple of summers, but they can get hot.”
Petty also added that Byron has that Gordon-esque quality of putting the car on his back and making something happen in it even if the car has no right to finish that high.
William Byron’s Success was long-time coming according to Petty
The analyst also made sure to point out that Byron’s success should not come as a shock to those who have followed the driver since his early days. Petty said, “I do believe that with all that iRacing experience, with all the experience in the Late Models and everything else that he’s done, he’s finally catching up to it in between his ears. Mentally he is there, mentally he is on the top of his game.”
“He is a sponge in meetings they say, he is a sponge in the history of the sport.. He wants to make himself the best race car driver talent-wise and between his ears, mentally.”
High words coming from Petty, who has been around the sport long enough to be taken seriously as a judge of talent. It will be interesting to see how the conversations go if Byron’s spectacular season ends with a championship at Phoenix.
