CONCORD, N.C. - One of the many things that make NASCAR unique in the sports landscape is that its biggest race, the DAYTONA 500, opens the season.
And along with that, come some unique side effects for the athletes and personnel involved.
For example, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles will have an entire offseason to digest winning the Super Bowl. But for William Byron, Rudy Fugle and the No. 24 team, there were only mere hours to try and put last year's win in the Great American Race away before the next week's race and 35 more points-paying events in 2024.
Byron, asked just days after the season finale in Phoenix, said he hadn't even begun to digest a windigest a win that had happened nearly nine months prior.
"For me, I haven't reflected on it yet, but I definitely see myself reflecting on it more as the season's been over now and just what an accomplishment it was," Byron said. "When the season is going on, especially for a team like ours, we don't look at the DAYTONA 500 as the end goal, there's plenty of goals out there ... Granted, we would've loved to have won the championship too and kind of bookend the year, but to win the 500 was a really special race for us and it's something that is always going to live with you."
But this week, Byron was questioned about the victory and about his mindset in returning for the DAYTONA 500, a win that remains the biggest on his resume so far in his young career.
"I have more joy coming down here than I did before," Byron said during media day festivities on Wednesday. "I have more passion and excitement for this race than I did before. I feel like having experienced it the way it was last year really changed my perspective on the race as a whole in a good way, obviously. I feel that’s created some more motivation to get another one. This race, it’s a lifetime achievement. It’s something people reference everywhere you go. It’s something that the first time in my career I’ve had something like that. It makes it cool, it makes it more special, because you can tell people care about the race.
Byron hit on an interesting point in saying winning one increased his desire to get another. It's a sentiment echoed by Fugle, who believes last year's break through will free his team up even more.
"For me, anytime you've done something once, it hasn't made me want it less but maybe it takes a little of the jitters and the edge off it, whether that's winning a race at a certain track or winning a (NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series) championship, things like that," Fugle said. "I think there's such a buildup on pit road right before the 500 starts and I want to have that feeling of excitement but maybe not as much of the nerves. I think that will do well for us. I think everybody really wants to win it but without the nerves of not having a 500 win. Now you're 500 champions and it will make a big difference for our team."
And so far, the No. 24 bunch appear to have plenty of car to get it done. In fact, after laying down the fastest lap in the second of three NASCAR Cup Series practices this week, Byron reminded a media room full of reporters that last year, he won in a backup car. His Chevrolet will roll out onto the grid without a scratch this time around and his confidence level to be able to make the moves needed, when needed, is surging heading into Sunday.
"Optimistic, really. I think this is a lot better car than I had last year, this being our primary and having some speed on our side," Byron said. "Last year we just kind of made the best with the backup car situation ... We didn't have really the most speed, but we were just in good positions and we handled well through the race so, feel like this car has a lot more speed and just excited and optimistic for that."
And Byron's confidence has filtered down throughout the 24 team as well.
"Going there before you feel his little bit of vulnerability feeling; I hope we don't get wrecked, I hope we stay out of trouble," fueler Landon Walker said. "When you come back as the defending champ, you have a lot more confidence that our team has exactly what it takes to win again. I think we're going to be there, it's just a matter of being able to stay up front and lead and understand what it's going to take to be there at the end."