William Byron: Driver, No. 51 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: Tyson 250, Race 10 of 23, 250 Laps – 70/70/110; 156.25 Miles
Location: North Wilkesboro Speedway (0.625-mile, oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 20, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
The Beat on Byron:
William Byron will make his third and final NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start this season behind the wheel of the No. 51 Silverado for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Saturday at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Byron, who ran full-time for KBM in 2016, made his KBM return earlier this year at the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway where he came from the 14th starting position to earn a third-place finish and then last week at Darlington Raceway came from the 10th starting position to finish fourth.
Byron’s pair of top-10 finishes are part of a streak of eight consecutive for the No. 51 team this year. The team has finished inside the top 10 in every race since finishing 17th in the rain-shortened season opening event at Daytona International Speedway. The No. 51 team currently leads the Craftsman Truck Series owner’s point standings by five points over the No. 38 team. Across eight starts in 2023, the team has recorded one win, one pole, 153 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.2.
Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie is calling the shots for the No. 51 team this year in his first season at KBM after spending the last 14 seasons atop the pit box in the NASCAR Cup Series. It took the veteran signal caller just two races to get his first win at KBM, winning with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the Cup Series, his drivers produced six wins, nine poles, 57 top-five and 131 top-10 finishes across 528 starts. In 2012, he guided Clint Bowyer to three victories and a runner-up finish in the Cup Series championship standings. In 2017, he guided Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to two wins and a berth in the playoffs. The Florida native has also recorded 11 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and now has two wins as a crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. This will be Pattie’s first time atop the pit box for a Truck Series event at North Wilkesboro.
Byron will be pulling triple duty this week at North Wilkesboro. He will kick off the week by racing in the ASA Stars National Tour Super Late Model event on Tuesday, race the Truck Series race on Saturday and compete in the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race on Sunday night.
HendrickCars.com, the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group, will be the primary sponsor on Byron’s Silverado for Saturday’s 250-lap event. The No. 51 will be sporting the same Ricky Hendrick tribute scheme that it did for Byron’s first two Truck Series races this season.
Byron collected a Truck Series leading seven victories and 727 laps led driving for KBM in 2016. He earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors that season and led the No. 9 team to an owner’s championship with his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The North Carolina native returned to victory lane in the Truck Series last year leading a race-high 94 laps for Spire Motorsports in the HendrickCars.com Silverado at Martinsville Speedway. Across 28 career starts in NASCAR’s Truck Series, the 25-year-old driver has totaled eight wins, three poles, 828 laps led, 14 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.2.
With a series-leading three wins across the first 13 Cup Series races this season; Byron now has seven career victories in NASCAR’s premiere division. In 2022, he finished a career-best sixth in the Cup Series championship standings and ranked third in the series with 746 laps led. Across 193 career Cup Series starts he has totaled 10 poles, 2201 laps led, 32 top-five and 69 top-10 finishes. Between his time at KBM and graduating to the Cup Series in 2018, Byron captured an Xfinity Series championship and Rookie of the Year Honors for Jr. Motorsports in 2017 after totaling four wins, two poles, 262 laps led, 12 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes.
Jack Wood returns to the No. 51 Eberelestock Chevy May 26 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch will make his final start of 2023 July 22 at Pocono Raceway.
William Byron, Driver Q&A:
Are you excited to be running three races this week at North Wilkesboro?
“I’m excited for it for sure. The track looks gorgeous — it just really looks nice. The whole layout of the place has that feel of kind of a Wrigley Field or just a historic place that has a newness to it. I think the late model race will get me ready, running the truck race after that and running the Cup race on Sunday. Lots to do and feel like we don’t really know what we’re getting into yet. I think I practice at one o’clock on Tuesday, so I’ll tell you after that.”
William Byron Career Highlights:
- With three wins across the first 13 races, Byron now has seven career NASCAR Cup Series victories. In 2022, he finished a career-best sixth in the Cup Series championship standings and ranked third in the series with 746 laps led. Across 193 career Cup Series starts he has totaled 10 poles, 2201 laps led, 32 top-five and 69 top-10 finishes.
- Byron captured an Xfinity Series championship and Rookie of the Year Honors for Jr. Motorsports in 2017 after totaling four wins, two poles, 262 laps led, 12 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes.
- The North Carolina native has totaled eight wins, three poles, 828 laps led, 14 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.2 across 28 career Truck Series starts.
- Won the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title after registering four wins, three poles, five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes across 14 events.
- William Byron’s No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado RST:
KBM-62: The No. 51 HendrickCars.com team will unload KBM-62 for Saturday’s race at North Wilkesboro. This truck has finished inside the top 10 in each of its last five starts, including a runner-up finish with Kyle Busch earlier this year at Martinsville. That result equaled the best finish that this chassis had achieved, which was a runner-up finish with Busch at Richmond Raceway in 2021.
KBM-62 Performance Profile:
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected 17 wins, three poles, 2705 laps led, 56 top-five and 91 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.8 across 142 starts on short tracks. The team’s most recent win on a short track came at Richmond Raceway with Chandler Smith last August.
- KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (99) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year, Corey Heim became the 18th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- With 40 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.
