MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY
COCA-COLA 600
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
MAY 23, 2019
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 met with media and discussed the progress of the No. 24 team, his success in making the All-Star race last weekend, how he entered the sport and how that differs compared to others, and more. Full Transcript:
YOU HAVE ONE TRACK AT CHARLOTTE UNDER YOUR BELT, THE ROVAL, WHAT’S IT LIKE COMING HOME TO A LOT OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY?
“Yeah, it feels great. This is the most important race for me of the year. These two weeks are good. They didn’t go so great last year, but they’re going better so far. The All-Star race went really well for us for the most part. And practice today has gone well. So, I’m excited for it. Our car has good speed so far this weekend, which is promising. And, it’s great to be home and be able to sleep in your own bed and wake up and go to the race track. It feels like the old days.”
SO BRAD KESELOWSKI JUST TOLD THE MEDIA THAT THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CARS ARE THE BEST IN THE GARAGE RIGHT NOW. HOW DO YOU TAKE THAT SPEED AND GET A WIN OUT OF IT?
“There is still a lot to accomplish. That’s a good thing. Their cars were definitely the best at the start of the year. I feel like we’re catching up, for sure. There’s a lot of great cars out there. I feel like it’s probably the closest it’s been in a while. And, I feel like we’re starting to be right in that mix. It’s exciting to be close like that and to have opportunities and I know that with the speed that we have, we’ve been looking for that for a while now. So, it’s been refreshing to be a part of the mix.”
WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU GUYS WERE BEHIND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR?
“It’s probably a little bit everywhere. It think it’s not really one area that you really focus on, but it’s a little bit everywhere that makes a big difference. I think we saw a big difference when we went to Texas and we had a big chunk of speed there that we hadn’t had at some of the 1.5-miles, which was awesome. And we were able to finish sixth there, which was good; and we qualified second. I think it’s kind of carried since then and even carried over to some of the shorter tracks like Dover and some of those places have been really good, too. It’s been exciting.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CONFIDENCE LEVEL SAY FROM A YEAR AGO TO RIGHT NOW? YOU’RE IN YOUR ROOKIE SEASON AND FEELING AROUND A LITTLE BIT IN THE DARK. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE FROM A YEAR AGO?
“It’s been a big difference for me. I think there have been a lot of things that have enabled the confidence to be higher. I would say that just the more experience that you have and the more success that comes at this level and the more comfort you get racing around the guys and things like that. So, I think that’s led to some confidence is just having more speed and having Chad’s (Knaus, crew chief) ability to lead the team. We’re always one step ahead of things, which I think is really nice. He’s brought some of that comfort for me to just know that I can get in the car and do my job and I know that everything is going to be close to right once we get to the track, which is a big credit to him and Tyler, our car chief, and all the engineers on our team that do a great job.”
AS FAR AS GETTING THE FEELING THAT YOU BELONG, IS THAT SOMETHING THAT ALL OF A SUDDEN JUST HAPPENED IN A RACE OR IS THAT LIKE YOUR CONFIDENCE AND YOUR EXPERIENCE THAT BUILDS OVER TIME TO GIVE YOU THE FEELING YOU BELONG?
“I think it builds over time because you have to race around the guys for them to know how you race. And then, just know how they race too and kind of know what there tendencies are and what they’re going to do. The level of aggression in the Cup series is so much higher than the other series I’ve kind of been a part of, so you’re racing against 20 to 25 really good cars versus however many in any other series. That’s the biggest difference I think is the level of competition and you just kind of acclimate yourself to that. Even last week was a pretty big breakthrough to be a part of that All-Star race was a huge honor for me. It was kind of an exclusive kind of feeling that was really cool.”
ARE YOU ABLE TO TRANSLATE THE CONFIDENCE GAIN FRO THE OPEN AND THE ALL-STAR RACES LAST SATURDAY TO THE COKE 600? OR, IS IT JUST A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT KIND OF BEAST?
“Oh, definitely. You pull into the same race track in the same garage stall. That stuff all helps. Our team, the No. 24 team, does a lot of simulation work and a lot of training in the simulator that Chevrolet gives us up in Huntersville. It’s the fist time that we can actually go back and look at what we did after the race and say okay, now we can apply it to what we’re doing the next weekend, and we’ve never been able to do that. We’re kind of a relatively new team. I know when we go back to places for the second time as a group on the No. 24 we’re going to be better. It helps that we’re able to do that one week later, which is really cool.”
THIS IS THE 60th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COKE 600. IS 600 MILES TOO LONG A RACE IN NASCAR? DOES NASCAR REALLY NEED A 600-MILE RACE?
“I went to this race growing up in Charlotte and I went to this race every year for a long time. And, it was obviously a long race to watch from the stands, but there was a lot that came with it that was really cool. Not too long ago, I was already racing, but I came when Martin Truex Jr. won and dominated that race and that was a huge deal, I thought. To be able to dominate for that long of a period in a race takes a lot of things to go your way and a lot of execution as a team. So, I think it’s really a special even for this time. I look at the Southern 500 as being in this category too. Those are races, as a driver and a team, just mean more. So, it’s in it’s own space. As a fan, it’s a really long race but you kind of know what to expect and you know the guy who won is typically one of the dominate people of the year.”
YOU HAVE TWO TOP 10’S THIS YEAR AND SOME SOLID FINISHES. ARE YOU AT THE POINT WHERE IT’S FRUSTRATING TO DO THAT WELL AND NOT WIN? OR, IS IT MORE OF A CONFIDENCE BOOSTER?
“We still have to knock off laps led and things like that to really get in the mix more. But, I would say last weekend in the All-Star race was our most solid, well-put together weekend really, that we’ve had. We had really flawless pit stops. We had no issues. At Kansas we had a couple of issues with having to go to the back. We’ve kind of had that a number of times. So, we’ve got to just kind of continue to put together races on my end and the team’s end to just make sure we’re in position all night.”
YOUR BACKGROUND IS DIFFERENT FROM MOST OTHER DRIVERS. NOW THAT YOU’VE HAD A COUPLE OF YEARS AT THIS LEVEL, DO YOU EVER THINK BACK AND WISH YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN INTO A CAR SOONER? ARE THERE THINGS YOU STRUGGLED WITH THAT MIGHT HAVE HELPED? OR, DO YOU THINK IN ONE SENSE YOU’RE AHEAD BECAUSE YOU’VE LED A DIFFERENT PATH AND THAT HELPED YOU?
‘Yeah, I think it was a totally different mindset than most people growing up in Go-Karts and all that around a local track or something like that. I had a completely different perspective just watching it from the stands and always going to races as a fan and kind of expecting that to be where it ended for me. So, I would say it’s a different perspective. But I’ve been in it for a while now and that perspective has changed for me. I would say at first, yeah, it was a fresh perspective. I was really green to racing in general from the team side and from the driver’s side. But, now it’s kind of shifted for me in the last couple of years and not as much of a deal as it was before.”
THIS DIFFERENT PATH, HOW SOON DO YOU THINK WE’LL SEE OTHER PEOPLE TAKE A PATH LIKE YOURS?
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask each individual person how interested they are in racing because I think that’s what it comes down to. If they’ve been following it since they were five or six years old and they just happened to start racing then or if they weren’t able to et in a car until they were 13. It’s still based on the interest that you have and the will to kind of make it happen. If they are expecting to just decide they want to go race at age 14 and just a random thought comes to their heads, it’s going to be difficult for them to make it work. But for me, I had studied it for years and watched it. Once I was 14 I was well ahead of my time even though I hadn’t been in something. So, I don’t know. I think there are a lot of kids out there that have a lot of potential that I’ve seen on iracing and just racing against them, that would do very well in a situation if they could get there.”
WE HAVE QUITE A FEW RACES UNDER OUR BELTS NOW AND YOU MENTIONED HOW THE TEAM IS RELATIVELY NEW. WOULD YOU SAY THAT NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN TO THIS POINT IN THE SEASON AND YOUR RECENT PERFORMANCE HAS IMPROVED A LITTLE BIT, IS THAT BECAUSE THE TEAM IS STARTING TO MESH BETTER? OR, WOULD YOU CONTRIBUTE THAT SUCCESS TO THE RECENT PERFORMANCE IN THE RACE CARS?
“I think it’s a little bit of both. If you don’t have the speed it’s hard to make much of a difference on the team side. But the gelling of our team I think has helped. The feedback I give, and them understanding what that means and also getting some info from them in terms of how I can help them in the car is helpful. So, I think it goes hand-in-hand. But you definitely have to have speed to be able to really make a difference or really see a difference.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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