CONCORD, N.C. -- The NASCAR Cup Series will make its debut at Road America this Sunday and William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro, is ready to use his road course experience to race for another win in the inaugural event.
“A lot of the guys on the team have been to Road America in the Xfinity Series from the JR Motorsports days and (crew chief) Rudy (Fugle) has experience there,” Byron said. “I feel like we have all been there and kind of know the track and know our way around, so it’s not going to be an experiment going there and having to learn. I think it will be good; I think we will be comfortable.”
Byron raced at the 4.048-mile road course in August 2017 and claimed a sixth-place finish in the Xfinity Series. Since making his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, the 23-year-old driver has collected three top-10 finishes in his last six road course appearances and led the second-most laps on all road courses during the 2020 season.
The Hendrick Motorsports drivers have also won seven of the last eight road course events and three of the last five inaugural races since the beginning of the 2018 season, giving Byron and his teammates a lot of confidence heading to Road America.
“I think it just shows we study really well and prepare and use our resources really well,” Byron said. “I feel like we go to those tracks and we know what the setup needs to be from past knowledge. With our current knowledge, we are able to blend the two really well.”
Byron explained one of his lessons learned from racing at Road America in the Xfinity Series is making sure that the setup of his car can handle the hard braking and turns that are infamous at the road course. Byron noted there isn’t a lot of wiggle room in staying on the track since so much of the venue is surrounded by grass.
“The biggest challenge will be the braking and getting slowed down for the braking zones,” he said. “There is a lot of wheel hop. It’s really easy to get in too hard and then start wheel hopping and you can’t get it slowed down. I remember the kink and the carousel were really hard to get through after a few laps, so just remembering that part and staying on the track is hard there.”
Tune in this Sunday, July 4 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC to see Byron and the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers chase down the organization’s 10th win this season in the first-time Cup event at Road America.