NASCAR CUP SERIES
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 13, 2024
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
I JUST TALKED TO JIMMIE JOHNSON ABOUT HOW THE PLAYOFFS HAVE CHANGED SINCE HE WAS A FULL-TIME DRIVER IN NASCAR. NOW IT’S MUCH MORE COMPLICATED TO STRING TOGETHER CHAMPIONSHIPS LIKE HE DID. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON IT – ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE AT? DO YOU THINK IT’S BEST THE WAY THAT THEY HAVE IT NOW, VERSUS THE WAY THAT THEY HAD IT THEN?
“It’s just the format that I’ve always raced in, so I don’t know any different. That’s how we’ve always done it. The first year I was in Trucks, they didn’t have the playoff points, and then a lot of people said they created the playoff points because of us and having that motor issue at Phoenix that ultimately took us out. We had a dominate year and we got to the end, and we were in an even playing field with the eighth seed and we got eliminated.
I think the playoff points are a good thing, but I don’t know any different. I think it’s just the format and the nature of it is very intense.. very stressful. But I think that’s what you want in sports, really.. to have something that really challenges everyone. So, I feel like the way it is brings out those dramatic moments. If I were a fan, that’s what I would like to see. As a competitor, you do have to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that really it’s about Phoenix. So, you’ve just got to prepare that way; know that’s the case and try to bring your best stuff then. I’ve seen talk about doing a three-race format for the championship. If that’s the direction that they went, I wouldn’t be opposed, but I’m just going to race in whatever format it is and I’m not going to worry about what I can’t control.”
THIS RACE HAS BEEN PRIMARLY RAN IN THE FALL AND NOW IT’S MOVED UP TO THE SPRING. HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IS THERE GOING TO BE IN THE RACING?
“Yeah, I mean the biggest difference is that I can’t watch the Masters (laughs), so that’s about it. Really, it’s kind of back to how it was my first couple of years in Cup – I guess we would race here twice a year, but we would come here around this weekend. The track is just a little bit cooler. The last few times we’ve been here, it’s been scorching hot.. I mean ridiculous, like 100-plus, and a day race. So, I’m sure this will be a lot more pleasant for the fans watching in the stands because that race in the fall was definitely brutal, and I just think it will be a better overall thing for everyone.
But for us with track temps and everything – I mean I don’t think it changes a whole lot. The track was really greasy when it was 100-plus to start, but then we gained grip. I feel like it’ll probably just have more grip to start. This place is treacherous, and it just has a lot of different traits than a lot of 1.5-mile tracks.”
WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM LAST WEEKEND? WHAT’S YOUR BEST MEMORY OR SOMETHING THAT FOLLOWED IT? IT WAS JUST SO BIG FOR THE SPORT..
“Yeah, for me, it felt like a full circle moment – just with all the history at Martinsville with being in the No. 24, having Jeff (Gordon) there and talking to Rick (Hendrick) on the phone. And then going to celebrate with him (Rick Hendrick) on Monday. We did a little photo op at his house, which it was awesome to see him. It’s been a few weeks. And I think just the history that Hendrick Motorsports has and just seeing all the people there. It was just a full circle moment I think, and it was just really a family atmosphere to have everyone there to celebrate. It was just awesome.
I’m glad that we could win. I was really glad to see all of us running so well. Those cars were awesome looking, and I felt like the ruby red schemes were always like in or around the top-six. And then at the end, we all just kind of had a sea of red at the front. So that was pretty neat. You don’t see that often in modern day Cup racing.. to have three cars in the top-three like that, and four of us in the top eight, so it was just pretty amazing.”
YOU MENTIONED THE MASTERS.. HAVE YOU BEEN TO AUGUSTA AND WATCHED IT LIVE? DO YOU PLAY GOLF, AND IF SO, WHAT’S YOUR HANDICAP?
“Yeah, I have. I haven’t been that into golf lately, but I did play this week a little bit. But I love the Masters. I’ve been once or twice, and it’s just a very special place. Just has that kind of history behind it and that aura when you walk in. It’s really cool. It’s comparable to some of the racetracks that we go to that have a lot of history. I think it’s just a special event. I like how fan friendly it is and everything.
I was around an eight handicap, but I’m probably like a 10 or a 12 right now because I haven’t played in months.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE LAST WEEKEND.. MR. HENDRICK COULDN’T BE THERE AT THE TRACK, SO WHEN YOU GUYS GOT BACK TO THE SHOP AND THINGS RAMPED UP FOR THE CELEBRATION, WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?
“It was really cool. Got a chance to see him at his house, and just seeing him and Linda (Hendrick) and how excited they were. Linda was taking photos on her phone, and she was just so excited. So, it was really neat to share that with them. And just like I said, the history of our company and everything that they’ve accomplished – it was something that we haven’t done before, so that was cool.”
YOU’RE DOING PRETTY DARN GOOD THIS YEAR. YOU’VE SHOWN IN THE PAST THAT YOU CAN DO THAT. I ASKED YOU LAST YEAR ABOUT BEING A FAVORITE AND YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE, BUT ALL LAST WEEK ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND IN THE MEDIA, PEOPLE WERE SAYING THAT YOU’RE THE GUY TO WATCH THIS SEASON TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR AND POSSIBLY WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. DOES ANY OF THAT, THIS EARLY THIS SEASON, EVEN PLAY INTO YOUR FACTORING?
“Not really. Like I said, with this format, I feel like it’s the nature of the beast. You have to keep accumulating the playoff points and try to get to the end of the season with your best performances. I mean for us, it’s great to win races. It’s awesome to lead some of those categories, but we have a lot of work to do. The days that we’ve been on, we’ve been really on. And then we’ve had a few solid days, as well. But we just have to execute every week. That’s really what I want to put together is consistent weeks, and we’ve started to do that the last three. We just want those bad days to be ninth or 10th, and those good days to still have the wins. It’s just a tough sport. Everyone is really good. We don’t know what we’ll have when we unload here. We feel like we have a good idea, but you never know what the weekend is going to be like.”
YOU STARTED OFF LAST YEAR VERY SIMILARLY TO THIS YEAR.. REALLY, REALLY HOT. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS NEXT GEN CAR THAT SEEMS TO FIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE BETTER? IT SEEMS LIKE YOU AND RUDY (FUGLE) ARE REALLY, REALLY CLICKING, AND THERE’S A LOT OF TALK THAT YOU GUYS ARE THE NEXT JIMMIE JOHNSON AND CHAD KNAUS.
“Yeah, so I’ve thought a lot about that because I’ve seen some talk about that. I do think the Next Gen car has been a good reset for us. But when Rudy (Fugle) came in 2021, we won the third race of the year on a 1.5-mile track, and then we had like 13 or 14 straight top-10s. We’ve had speed since he’s come on board and we’ve had that chemistry, and I thought there were a lot of races that we could have won that year in 2021 that we didn’t close the deal all the way through the playoffs. The Round of Eight, we had like a 3.0 average finish.
The Next Gen car was just a good reset for us – to go in and have a clean slate, and we really attacked it head-on. There was a little bit of discomfort early on when we were testing the car because we just weren’t sure how it was going to go. But we just kind of used that, took that challenge, and we had speed at the first few tests that we had at Charlotte. And then the short-track test at Phoenix, as well, we had pretty good speed, and then we just hit the ground running when we started with that car.
And then I think you just work with what you have. The Next Gen car has continued to evolve. The competition is closer than ever, so I feel like attention to detail has been really where we could put our focus. Just feel like we’ve adapted to it, but like I said, when he (Rudy Fugle) came onboard and we started to click, we had a lot of success and we just had to use this car as kind of a platform to keep that going.”
THOSE NEW TOYOTA’S CAME OUT – WHAT’S YOUR IMPRESSION RUNNING AGAINST THOSE GUYS?
“I just worry about the Chevy I’m in. I don’t care.. we just race against our competition and just try to make the most of it. I mean obviously they have a lot of speed. They had pretty good speed at Las Vegas, but they were really good at Phoenix and the short-tracks, and we had a lot of work to do. Feel like you never know what’s going to happen here. I mean the Ford’s could be strong. We could be really good again. You just don’t know, so you just have to go out there and see.”
WHO’S AN UP-AND-COMING DRIVER THAT YOU BELIEVE HAS THE BRIGHTEST FUTURE?
“I don’t know.. it’s so hard to tell until they get to the Cup level and kind of put the work in that it takes to be good. But I don’t know.. there’s a few out there. I think Corey Heim is doing a good job. I think he has a good approach, a good mindset. He races clean, but races hard. He gets the positions he needs to, but doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.”
LOOKING AHEAD AT TALLADEGA, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT RACE?
“Yeah, I mean anytime you go to Talladega, it’s pretty unpredictable. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Our drafting has been pretty good, but you don’t want your luck to run out, in a sense, so you just have to be a good pusher. You have to be able to get pushed well; do all the little things right. I think we know in the Cup Series who the drafters are, and there’s a few out there to try and work with and be around.
Just try to have a solid weekend. You can’t really control the result there, but you can try and get good stage points, and try to be a good drafter and learn because that race in the playoffs is huge.”
IT SEEMS THAT THE MORE YOU WIN, THERE ARE MORE COMPARISONS TO JEFF GORDON. AS YOU CONTINUE IN YOUR CAREER AND WIN MORE, HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT ESTABLISHING ‘WILLIAM BYRON’, THE BRAND?
“Yeah, I mean we’re already working towards it. I was put into Jeff’s (Gordon) car and that was a lot of pressure, and we had to kind of make it our own. I feel like Jeff is a great mentor and a great asset for our team, and we use him a lot in different ways and talking off the track. But he made it known when I got in the car, that it’s my own and we kind of built the team that way – with the people and all that we have on our team.
I get that question a lot, but it’s just about trying to focus on what we can do. Hopefully the fans like that. It seems like we’ve gotten a lot of support lately, so hopefully the old No. 24 fans can kind of adapt and grow with us.”
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