Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are undoubtedly Rick Hendrick’s star men in the Cup Series. They are both champions, they have the most number of wins, they have led the most laps and whatnot. Despite all their achievements and strong standing within the team, neither could be unaware of the threat that 26-year-old William Byron is posing to their stature.
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Former racer Kyle Petty strongly underlined the same idea in a recent interview with NASCAR. “William Byron at COTA yesterday was perfection,” he said. “We saw him do things on that racetrack that great road racers do and the pit crew, they rose to the occasion and did everything they were supposed to do. That is the Hendrick organization at perfection.”
Continuing, he stated that Byron was quickly ascending the ladder to be the top driver on Rick Hendrick’s team and that Elliott, Larson, or Alex Bowman were not going to be able to stop his charge. Petty brought up Elliott’s winless streak and Larson’s focus on other racing disciplines to make his case. He continued likening Byron to Jeff Gordon and mentioned that he was the right person to lead the team into the Next Era.
He quipped confidently, “William Byron is going to show up every single week and I’m telling you… People you can hate me on Twitter, you can hate me on Facebook, you can send me nasty stuff, I don’t care. But I’m going to be standing right there when William Byron is the head of Hendrick Motorsports and has all those championship trophies, with a big t-shirt on that says, ‘Told you so!’”
Byron joins Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty in elite NASCAR list
Petty’s optimism when it comes to Byron isn’t weak-founded. The driver had the most wins in 2023 and now has two wins in 2024, already. He is a Daytona 500 champion and by far, the strongest driver in the Next Gen car. Adding further credence to his caliber of living up to Petty’s prophecy are the records he set at COTA.
Byron’s victory on Sunday was his 10th in the Next Gen car. He is the first driver to reach the mark and has taken 78 races to do so. In previous eras, Jimmie Johnson took 70 races to reach the 10-win mark in the sixth-generation car, and 45 races to reach it in the fifth-generation car. Rewinding further, Richard Petty took a mere 23 races to win 10 races in the second-generation car.
Adding further clout is the fact that Byron has now become the first driver to have multiple wins in each of the last three seasons. His next race will be at the Richmond Raceway this weekend.
