William Byron: NASCAR Double-Duty Trickier in Next-Gen Era

Nilavro Ghosh | 14/07/2024
Nov 3, 2023; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver William Byron during practice for the NASCAR Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

William Byron recently spoke on how racing on Saturday as well as Sunday in NASCAR has gotten more difficult in the seventh generation ‘Next Gen’ cup car. With the Xfinity and Cup Series cars moving apart in terms of driving dynamics, running both races in one weekend has become more challenging as per the Hendrick Motorsports star.

The #24 Chevrolet driver earned his best result out of three instances this year at Pocono Raceway as he finished P3 on Saturday. Earlier in the season, Byron finished P11 at Darlington and P23 at Phoenix driving the #17 Hendrick Motorsports entry. He touched on how it takes him more time to adapt to the intricacies of the different machines.

“Yeah, I mean it’s tougher, but you know, we’re adaptable as drivers. At least for me, when I get back into an Xfinity car, I remember some of the things and nuances. So yeah, it may take me a few more laps than what it would have in the past with the Gen-6 car,” he said.

Undertaking double duty on ‘The Tricky Triangle’ is not very uncommon as drivers prefer to get a feel of the track before the main race on Sunday. Byron will be gearing up to contend at the sharp end this Sunday, with last victory this season at Martinsville Speedway coming all the way back in April.

Can William Byron break his 12-race winless run at Pocono?

For Sunday’s Cup Series race, the #24 Chevrolet driver will be starting from P2 on the grid. Track position matters a lot at Pocono and Byron will be hoping to get into the lead as soon as possible. Despite not having won at the venue, Pocono remains one of the HMS star’s strongest tracks. He has earned two top-five and five top-10 finishes there.

“Pocono has always been a strong track for me and I don’t know why. I have just always had a good feel for it and understood the dynamics of it,” he had said in a media interaction.

The #24 driver has already won three races this season and secured a strong playoff berth. However, it has been a while since he has visited Victory Lane, 12 races to be exact. It will be interesting to see if he can finish P1 at Pocono for the first time.

Post Edited By: Ankit Sharma
Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series William Byron

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Nilavro Ghosh

Nilavro is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. His love for motorsports began at a young age with F1 and spread out to other forms of racing like NASCAR and Moto GP. After earning his post-graduate degree from the Asian College of Journalism in 2020, he has mostly worked as a motorsports journalist. Apart from covering racing, his passion lies in making music primarily as a bass player.

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