For NASCAR driver William Byron it’s been a tale of two seasons. The second half hasn’t been nearly as good as the first, that’s for sure. Since the All-Star Race, Byron only has one top-10 finish to his name. Dating back to the Coca-Cola 600, Byron has finishes of 32, 19, 9, 35, 16, and 30. Not to the standard that the No. 24 team would like to have.
One thing that is going to help out is more track time. William Byron came up in the iRacing scene and has a lot of racing under his belt. However, nothing quite beats getting onto the track itself and putting in the laps. He has two wins this season, but he clearly wants to compete for a championship.
This week, Byron was able to win the Slinger Nationals race. A late model and short-track win to add to his other accolades. On top of that, you can expect to see the driver in the Xfinity Series as well. He’s going to be P10, so look out for him to compete for the win in that race as well.
Of course, all of that extra racing and driving is for one thing – the Cup Series. That’s all that matters for Byron. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has really been putting in the laps not just in New Hampshire but elsewhere throughout the season.
“I didn’t realize how much I enjoy doing that [racing small races] during the week. And yeah, it’s tougher on the schedule, like you get less sleep, you don’t have as much time at home, all those things are true, but it’s just been a lot of fun to do it,” Byron explained.
The Magic Mile is going to play right into William Byron’s strengths. So, is he going to finally change his fortunes around?
William Byron has Wins, Needs Consistency
When you look at William Byron’s season, it isn’t the worst. In fact, he was one of the hottest drivers to start out the Next Gen era. However, since he was bumped out of the way at Darlington by Joey Logano – it hasn’t been smooth sailing. He won at Atlanta in March and then followed that up with an April victory at Martinsville.
Currently, Byron is 10th in the points standings and has punched his ticket to the postseason. Still, his performances as of late have left a little something to be desired. He’s a young driver, but consistency has to be better. He can’t just be a short-track driver if he wants to win a championship. He needs to be more than that.
Even when he races on different tracks, he just has to be better. In his last seven races, he has averaged a finish of about P22. This weekend at the Ambetter 301, William Byron has odds of 18-1 to take the checkered flag. He isn’t quite an underdog, but he isn’t favored, either.
