CONCORD, N.C. – William Byron continued his strong Super Late Model season as he won the 43rd running of the Slinger Nationals in Wisconsin on Tuesday night.
Byron bested defending race winner Luke Fenhaus for the victory in his first appearance at Slinger.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native spent the bulk of the race in the top five and pounced when Fenhaus and Ty Majeski made contact inside 20 to go. Byron drove to the outside of the duo for the lead and then was able to hold Fenhaus at bay for the win.
"The first run there we were really loose in and off," Byron told Racing America after the win. "Just couldn’t really hustle it and got outhustled on the restarts. Once we made adjustments, I felt like we just got the car tight enough where I could get off the corner. Guys started beating and banging and I was able to run the top. I don’t think I would have been able to pass both of them but the fact that they kind of got bottled up, I was able to work my way around them."
For Byron, this marks his sixth win in a row and sixth in seven starts in the No. 24 Super Late Model for Wilson Motorsports. He’s collected two wins at New Smyrna Speedway, one at Hickory Motor Speedway, one at Nashville Fairgrounds and one at Berlin Raceway.
"This definitely was our toughest test so far," Byron said. "We definitely weren’t lights out. Had a fast car and got the balance right at the end."
Slinger Speedway is known as the "world’s fastest quarter-mile" and the Super Late Model race typically sees a who’s who of short-track stars from Wisconsin as well as several NASCAR national series drivers. Among the NASCAR drivers in this race were Majeski, Matt Kenseth, Sammy Smith and Derek Kraus.
Byron was not the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to emerge victorious on Tuesday night. Driving a sprint car, Kyle Larson topped Donny Schatz in the World of Outlaws event at Attica Raceway Park in Ohio. Larson got to enjoy the win with his kids Owen and Audrey in victory lane.
The win comes ahead of Larson’s running of the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway, a prestigious sprint car event that starts with preliminary events on Wednesday and runs to the main event on Saturday. The Elk Grove, California, native is the defending winner of the race. HendrickCars.com will appear on his sprint car, uniform, gloves and helmet.