CONCORD, N.C. - The 2024 season started with the biggest bang imaginable for William Byron and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet team - winning the DAYTONA 500. And that momentum helped carry the squad all the way to the bitter end at Phoenix Raceway.
Yes, a second straight trip to the Championship 4 eventually led to a third-place finish in the season standings, backing up a third-place season finish in 2023 as well.
But by nearly any metric, Byron has been one of the best in the business over the past two seasons, piling up nine wins and looming as one of just two drivers to have made the Championship 4 in each of the last two years. Still, there's one more step to take for Byron and the No. 24 squad.
That's one of the many points discussed in a final team meeting held behind the No. 24 trailer after the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Already, the group was looking forward to this season.
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"I feel like since we've made the Final Four, these last two years, we always try to get together as a group and just talk about our season and talk about what our future goals are," Byron said. "So that's really all it is. Really, I'm proud of our team for getting through a lot of adversity this year and also having some really high spots with making the Championship Four and winning the 500 and the 40th anniversary race at Martinsville (Speedway). So, it was a special year, but definitely lots to look forward to next year too."
There's every reason to believe the No. 24 team can hit the ground running in 2025. First, it has a history of hot starts. In 2023, Byron won three races in the first 12 events. He even found a way to improve this stat in 2024, claiming three victories by the eighth race of the year.
And despite not quite winning the title, nobody was more consistent than the 24 team to end last year. Starting with the fall race at Kansas Speedway, Byron ended the campaign with seven-straight, top-six finishes, going second, third, third, fourth, sixth, sixth, third to close out the season.
Byron's speed also seems to translate regardless of track layout. Among those nine wins in two years, are two at road courses (Watkins Glen International and Circuit of the Americas), two at drafting tracks (Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway), two at traditional, mile-and-a-half circuits (Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway), one at the mile-and-a-third, egg-shaped oval at Darlington Raceway, one at the one-mile oval at Phoenix and one at Martinsville Speedway, a half-mile short track.
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Through it all, Byron harped on the importance of his team, maintaining that the group was as tight-knit as any he'd been a part of.
"Well, I think we just have a really smart group of people and everyone's working towards the same goal, and I think that's really important, especially in our sport because it's such a team sport," Byron said. "Obviously I'm the one driving, but there's a lot that goes into it and whether it's pit stops or car prep or working through the weekend, through all the things that we have to do, it's definitely a team sport and takes a lot of work."
Spoken like a veteran. So much so, in fact, it's easy to forget that Byron just turned 27 years old in November and yet, already has seven full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series under his belt.
And certainly, with each passing year, the arrow continues to point up for Byron. He's won some of the organization's biggest races in recent memory including the '24 DAYTONA 500, Hendrick Motorsports' 40th anniversary race at Martinsville and the company's 300th win at Texas in 2023.
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Byron has also taken to the Next-Gen car as well as anyone. Since its inception to start the 2022 season, he's second in wins (11) behind only Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, second in average finish (13.2) behind another teammate in Chase Elliott and is fourth in top-five finishes (33) and laps led (2,120).
Yet, Byron feels like he's just beginning to scratch the surface. And that is a scary proposition for the competition entering 2025.
"Yeah, I don't ever really look at myself as a veteran, just personally, I feel like my racing career is so much shorter or has been so much shorter, and I feel like there's so much runway, hopefully for my career," Byron said. "So, (at 27 years old), I feel really young still. I feel like I'm still very much capable of learning and improving and being called a veteran is not a bad thing, but for me personally, I don't feel like that until I get in my late thirties or something like that. I don't feel like I'm a veteran. I feel experienced and I feel like I can continue to use that experience to get better on the track and learn, but still a lot of years ahead, hopefully."
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William Byron 2024 NASCAR Cup Series statistics
| Final points position: | 3rd |
|---|---|
| Starts: | 36 |
| Wins: | 3 |
| Poles: | 1 |
| Top fives: | 13 |
| Top 10s: | 21 |
| DNFs: | 4 |
| Laps led: | 357 |
| Average start: | 9.6 |
| Average finish: | 12.9 |