CONCORD, N.C. -- Like most of the NASCAR Cup Series field, William Byron isn’t quite sure what to expect for this weekend’s inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The Cup Series has never raced at the 1.33-mile oval, making it a little difficult for drivers to gauge how to race on the track. Byron has been relying on the simulator and notes from other series to get a feel for the Tennessee venue.
“(We’re) looking at the test they did a couple of months ago with Kurt Busch, and we’re looking at the old Xfinity races and seeing how the track widens out and things like that with rubber,” Byron said. “I think it’s going to be somewhat similar to Dover based on the fact that it’s concrete and the way that the tires need temperature. I’m excited for that.”
Byron also has an asset with No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle, who has competed three times at Nashville – twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and once with the NASCAR Truck Series. However, the 23-year-old driver stated he’s relying more on his personal experiences of how he’s going to drive.
"I think Rudy knows more about it than I do, for sure. That’s nice to have,” Byron said. “From a setup standpoint, it’s not like you’re really guessing and changing that much. You’re just kind of going off of what you do at Dover and some of the shorter tracks we run with the 750 package.”
Luckily for Byron and the rest of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates, the concrete track at Dover is where the organization finished 1-2-3-4 in May, marking the fourth time in Cup history that a team swept a race. Byron was fourth in that event and has earned one win, six top-five finishes and a whopping 12 top-10 results out of 16 races so far in 2021, his best Cup Series season to date.
“Our goal has been to inch up our performance as we go, and I feel like we’re just starting to get some really good performances and opportunities to win,” Byron said. "For us, the All-Star Race was a great chance to win and I feel like that will carry over into Nashville in some of the things that we do. I feel like we’re really close; we just need to get that little bit to try and win.”
Should Byron win this weekend, it will mark the fifth points-paying race in a row Hendrick Motorsports would grace victory lane and. Including last Sunday’s All-Star Race, it would be the sixth consecutive Cup Series event where a Hendrick driver won. The success isn’t lost on Byron, who noted how difficult it is for an organization to stay on top.
“I think everyone is just working extremely hard and smart, and everyone is doing the right things it takes to win,” he said. “It’s hard to do those things and have those cars. It doesn’t come often; the sport is very cyclical and it’s easy to get on the wrong side, so I think everyone is working extremely hard and it’s paying off.”
Sunday’s event at Nashville Superspeedway will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET and all the action can be seen live on NBCSN.