CONCORD, N.C. -- William Byron was pleased with how his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE drove in the dirty conditions at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday.
Byron finished sixth after starting eighth at the first NASCAR Cup Series dirt race in 51 years. He battled inside the top 10 for the majority of the day and earned his fifth top-10 result in a row; a career best in the Cup Series.
“We had a lot of fun (Monday),” Byron said. “I felt like we were really good in Stage 1 and 2, and then I got too loose. The car just didn’t have enough to lean on and we struggled on the restarts because of that. We got it really good by the end and came back from eleventh to sixth. It was good; a lot better than I would have thought. We’ll move onto Martinsville and try to win that one.”
Byron has very little dirt experience and Monday’s event was only his second competitive race on dirt. The first was five seasons ago at Eldora Raceway for the NASCAR Truck Series. Interestingly, No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle was Byron’s crew chief for that race.
Now Byron, Fugle and the rest of the Cup Series field will have this weekend off for the Easter holiday before they move on to Martinsville Speedway. The last time Cup cars raced at Martinsville, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott punched his ticket to the Championship 4 and eventually won the 2020 Cup Series title.