It takes an extreme amount of time, effort, patience and dedication to find success in NASCAR racing. Even if one thing goes right, endless other situations could go wrong throughout the course of a season.
There’s arguably no team in the NASCAR Cup Series garage area that’s clicking more than William Byron and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team.
In what was the celebratory weekend of Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary since their first victory in the series at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Byron led a Hendrick 1-2-3 finish at “The Paperclip” on Sunday.
It was Byron’s series-leading third win of the season, and the 11th since the introduction of NASCAR’s Next Gen race car — the most by any driver.
Notably, the 26-year-old led NASCAR’s premier series in wins (six) last year as well.
While it’s easy to say momentum is on the team’s side, HMS Vice Chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon believes the key to the team’s success is multi-layered.
“It’s a great question just because when you look at his background, you look at how he got here, how challenging, difficult this car is,” Gordon began. “I mean, of course first everybody talks about how hard he works, but he really does. The whole team I think really goes deep into the details.
“Because William’s willing to do that, Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) pushing him, he pushes Rudy, it goes down the list of the engineers and everybody that it takes to bring fast race cars. The pit crew is executing well, too.
“Right now they’re in this mode of, I don’t want to say cruise control, but they’re just in sync. They believe in one another. They go to the race track to win. I think they’re pretty disappointed in qualifying. Practice went really well. They made a few adjustments and just battled all day today ’cause it wasn’t easy to pass.”
Gordon beamed, stating Byron is simply “super talented.”
“He wants it really bad. He works really hard at it. He’s got a great team around him,” Gordon said. “As a driver, that’s what you hope for, right? You hope you get in that position to showcase what you’re capable of doing in the right equipment, the right team.”
Fugle emphasized the growth of the No. 24 team since he was paired with Byron in 2021. He believes the crew has only become more consistent over time.
He believes the consistent group only strengthens as the years have passed.
“I think it’s the experience of our team, getting together and we’re used to racing each other,” Fugle said. “This is the start of year four. We’ve always believed in each other, had each other’s backs more and more. Somebody has to prove it. The team grows with you.
“We’re going to enjoy this for a little bit. But I could already see the determination on his face and I’m already thinking about Texas a little bit. Just afraid you’re not going to be good enough to keep your job. That’s how I race and work every day.”
That determination from Byron was evident during his post-race press conference.
“I think the more times that you win races, the more you realize how difficult it is and how many things have to go right just to stay on that edge to have what it takes to win,” Byron said.
“We’ve been working super hard. I think we’ve learned and refined some things as we get through stretches where we have some difficult runs.
“But there’s less doubt in our team that we can do it. I feel like that is a unique thing that comes with winning races, is knowing you’re capable,” Byron continued. “If you get everything right and you do your job, you can still win.
“But yeah, today it was obvious. We had a great car, but it was really difficult to get to the front.”
Despite starting 18th in a race where passing was at a premium, Byron would not be denied.