CONCORD, N.C. -- William Byron grew up watching racing and attending the 600-mile race at Charlotte Motor Speedway as a fan.
This past Memorial Day weekend, however, the NASCAR Cup Series rookie had a new viewpoint of the special weekend.
This year, he was on the other side of the fence, competing for the first time in the series' longest race of the year.
"It's different," Byron said. "I usually come to the races here and I'm out there as one of those fans, so it's cool to be on the other side of it now."
Byron had a busy race day, complete with appearances and meet-and-greets with two Carolina Panthers players as well as the family of the fallen soldier whose name Byron carried on his No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1.
For an inside look at Byron's Charlotte race day, take a look at the video above.