William Byron’s latest victory in Martinsville could not have been scripted better. The Hendrick Motorsports star led his team’s 1-2-3 finish and blew up the 40th year anniversary celebrations. However, the result wasn’t an easy one. With 3 laps to go in the race, a caution came out and sent the race into overtime putting the nerves in everyone, including race leader Byron.
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Byron admitted post-race that the subsequent restart had him feeling jumpy for a few moments – owing to Denny Hamlin’s controversial restart in Richmond the week earlier. He said, “I didn’t want to jump because I knew that I’d be the first example made. At the same time, [I was] just thinking about how I can not spin my tires? How can I get a good launch?”
He continued, “I got an okay launch. I got to look back at it. I felt like the guys around me – knowing the restart zone, knowing the position I’m in being vulnerable with what happened last week – they took advantage of that and they had a little bit better launch than me. So, yeah it stinks that things like that happen and you have to kind of adjust but that’s just the nature of competition.”
Despite not having the ideal restart, Byron prevailed over his competitors and managed to come ahead of teammate Kyle Larson by 0.550 seconds when the checkered flag flew. The race marked his third victory of the season and the 305th of Hendrick Motorsports. Larson and Chase Elliott followed him past the finish line to round off the team’s fourth-ever 1-2-3 finish.
How William Byron’s 2023 fall race in Martinsville served as fuel for Sunday’s victory
After his race in the Virginian short track last October, a red-faced Byron climbed out of his car and sat down next to it in exhaustion. He dumped bottles of water on himself hoping to cool his body down after what was the most grueling race in his career. All he needed was a standard race to get inside the Championship 4 but his Camaro gave him everything but that.
Lacking speed and struggling to get cool air to his head, Byron came across the finish line in 13th place. “It was hell in a bottle,” he said. “I’ve never been so mad at a race car. I’ve never wanted to get so much and been so frustrated at the car with how loose I was, how tight I was at spots. I had no grip.” Using the bad experience as an example, the #24 team aimed to turn things around on Sunday and positively did so.
“I was spent last fall,” he told NASCAR. “I think that brought a lot of anxiety and nightmares coming up here this time… Our car, we had a really tough day in the fall. One of the worst experiences as a team, but one of the best experiences to realize the resilience that our team has. That showed today.” Completing the 180-degree turnaround, Byron has created a truly remarkable day for Hendrick Motorsports.
