William Byron, Willy B. He’s only the 3rd driver to race the No. 24 Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick and has been in the car since the number swap with Chase Elliott from the 24 to the 9 in 2018. Before 2023, William Byron was put the 24 in Victory Lane four times after scoring his first at Daytona in 2020. In 2023, the fire was lit.

Early Wins

William netted two poor finishes at both the Daytona 500 and the race at Auto Club, resulting in 34th and 25th place finishes, respectively. Byron would take it to the competition in week 3 at Las Vegas, where he had a previous career-best finish of 8th. William led a race-leading 176 laps and won both stages, scoring the maximum points on the day of 60.

And doggone, he did it again the following week at Phoenix Raceway. William led 64 laps on his way to his second win of the 2023 season. He finished 1st and 2nd in the stages, scoring 59 of the possible 60 points on the day. Only teammate Kyle Larson led more laps.

3 in the Summer

The Summertime was good to young Willy B., who started off with a little redemption at Darlington. Byron only led 7 laps on the day but showed a very strong running, scoring stage points and putting himself into contention to score the win.

July 9th, William Byron would score his 4th of the season and the second win of his career at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This time, William led the final 19 laps to solidify himself as the winningest driver of the season.

At the Glen the following month, Byron dominated yet again, leading 66 of 90 laps. Domination was the game of the day for the 24 team that finished 2nd and 1st in the stages, once again scoring 59 of the 60 possible points.

Playoffs

Byron would take his wins and Playoff Points into his 5th Playoff appearance in a row. After a solid Round of 16, William would kick off the Round of 12 with a win at Texas Motor Speedway. After fellow Playoff driver Bubba Wallace dominated the race, young Willy B would take the lead on a late-race restart over Wallace on older tires. Byron netted only 6 laps led all afternoon, but they were the ones that mattered.

William would survive the Round of 8 to make his first Round of 4 Championship appearance. Byron would finish 3rd in the final standings after finishing P. 4 in the race. Dspite coming in 4th, Byron would lead the second most laps that afternoon. 95 circuits were led by the 24 in the last race of the season.

Keep an eye out for William Byron to repeat a show of strength again in 2024.