William Byron ended a successful 2025 Cup Series season with a Championship 4 appearance at Phoenix Raceway. Even though he fell short of winning the ultimate prize, the performance reinforced his status as one of the best in the field. Now, with racing paused for a few months, Byron is looking to get better on the golf course.
Advertisement
Byron is one of many NASCAR drivers who have a strong interest in golf. The 27-year-old said during a press meet at Phoenix that he was in a good headspace at the moment and was hoping to keep his hobby of golfing going full swing (pun intended) during the offseason.
“I usually — if I look at my camera roll, I’m usually working on golf from November to February the most,” said Byron.
Revealing just exactly how good he is at golf at present, Byron added, “I’m like an 8.4 right now. Not too bad. It could always be better. I don’t know. I feel like when you play with people, though, you want to be a high handicap. You want to overdeliver.”
The Hendrick Motorsports driver tees off with quite a few friends often. Since his home course is closed right now, he tags along to the courses his pals use and makes sure his skills do not get rusty.
At times, Byron’s interest in the sport makes one wonder whether he is looking at golf as not just a hobby but another potential career path. This was evident from his words earlier in the season.
“I play it pretty often. I try to play weekly. I probably went through three or four months last year where I didn’t play much during the racing season,” Byron had said.
“But I try to play pretty often and go to the range a couple of times a week if I can. I’ve played pretty seriously since I was 18,” he added. His visits to the golf course, of course, didn’t impact his performances on the race track through the season.
A brief recap of Byron’s Cup Series season
Byron kicked off his season with a massive win in the Daytona 500. He later drove to Victory Lane at the Iowa Speedway and clinched the regular-season championship at the Richmond Raceway. This earned him 15 playoff points in addition to the 17 he had earned in the regular season.
On October 26, at the Martinsville Speedway, he led 304 laps to win the Xfinity 500 and earn his spot in the Championship 4. What went down at the Phoenix Raceway then was truly heartbreaking for him.
With three laps remaining in the race, he was trailing race leader Denny Hamlin. His front-right tire blew and caused him to crash into the wall, bringing out the yellow flag. This changed the course of the race, and Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson, ended up becoming the champion.
In addition to his three wins, Byron secured 11 top-5 finishes and led 1,330 laps in 2025.
