William Byron Feeling Threatened by Chase Elliott’s NASCAR Resurgence? HMS Driver Suggests Otherwise

“Try Not to Do It”: William Byron Has No Issue With NASCAR Punishing Chase Elliott

William Byron stands tall in the 2024 season with three wins to his name after nine races. He finished the latest Cup Series bout at Texas in 3rd place and stands fifth in the points table. While any other driver would be pretty relaxed in Byron’s position, he does not have that comfort. The reason behind that is the return of Chase Elliott to the top order of the sport. 

Elliott won Sunday’s race in Texas to break a 42-race winless streak that was casting a black mark on him. After futile attempts at trying to grab the lead, Byron settled for a place behind him. Already facing stiff competition from Kyle Larson to be the top dog at Hendrick Motorsports, Elliott’s return to the victory lane puts further pressure on Byron.

However, the resurgence of Elliott does not appear to have shaken Byron as of yet. He told Fox Sports after the race that he was happy for his teammate and was aware of the work that the #9 Hendrick Motorsports team had put in to break their drought. He said, “It’s awesome. All of us are pushing each other to be better. I know how hard they worked and they’re a very capable team.”

“It’s nice to see them have results and Chase works hard, he is a good teammate. Always pulling for those guys.” Continuing, he said that he was happy with the way one of the four HMS drivers kept finding a way to win in almost every track that they went to. Rick Hendrick’s team has displayed exemplary dominance and won 5 of the 9 races this season.

A less impactful weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway for Willie B

Byron has managed to be the talk of the town in most of the races he has competed in so far this year. He has finished inside the top 10 in six races and won thrice. Though he finished third on Sunday, he won only 2 stage points and remains in the same spot on the points table that he was in going to Texas. The only time Byron popped up through the 276 laps was in the final lap when he made contact with Ross Chastain and caused him to spin out.

With Kyle Larson winning the pole and Chase Elliott winning the race, Byron had to settle for not being the face of his team this weekend. While he might not be deterred by the happenings of one week, he would not quite enjoy it becoming a habit being the up-and-coming superstar that he is.

Post Edited By: Srijan Mandal
Chase Elliott William Byron

About the author

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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