NASCAR CUP SERIES
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
COKE ZERO SUGAR 400
TEAM CHEVY MEDIA AVAIL. QUOTES
AUGUST 23, 2024
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway.
Media Availability Quotes:
Earlier today, you got to go to the Daytona 500 Champions Walk of Fame and see the car for the first time. What was that like for you?
“Yeah, it was really fun. I really haven’t, during the season, given the Daytona 500 much thought but I think going there, seeing there in person, was definitely a chance to relive it. It was special. Really cool. Really cool day. I always think about it when I see the trophy, but to see the car was pretty cool.”
How is this year’s summer slump you guys have kind of went through similar or different to last year, and do you feel confident you can turn it on like you did last year?
“We’re just up and down this summer. I think we still had some races that were pretty good. Iowa comes to mind. There were a couple of others. Just tracks, I think, aren’t super strong for us. I don’t know if we just don’t put emphasis on it enough in the offseason or what, but we’ve been trying to get better at those tracks. Really, we focus on the tracks that are in the Playoffs and the start of the year. We try hard every week, but really, I think the tracks that suit us as we go through the Playoffs. That’s what our focus is, and I feel like we’re turning up the performance again and feel good about that.”
You’ve never experienced something like the charter negotiations, and obviously, you can’t influence that or be a part of that process, but are you watching that? Are you following it much?
“Yeah, I don’t really pay attention to the business side that much. I really just focus hard on what I do, what I can control, but I do read the articles and look at everything and kind of get an idea of what is going on and how it’s evolving. I just want to be a good racecar driver and win a bunch of races, and hopefully, the sport is around a long time, and I can do that. I think it would concern me if something was going on where we weren’t going to race or something like that, but I don’t really pay much attention.”
You got your first win at this track. What does that mean to you to have so much success at Daytona?
“There’s a lot of luck involved as we all know. I feel like I’ve been fortunate in some situations here to win twice. But also, I’ve been in a lot of crashes, and up until this year at the 500, I’ve been in crashes most of the time. It just is trying to be a good drafter, try to make good decisions in the draft. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of things about side drafting, controlling the lanes, and I feel like that stuff has come fairly natural to me, but just trying to evolve and be better at it. I feel like the Next Gen car has changed the game in terms of being too wide and not being able to really create a third lane unless there’s some fuel-saving going on. Just trying to figure out how I can control my lane and not necessarily kind of move from each lane as much. It’s just a different style, and fuel-saving is a part of it now. You have to know the strategy to save fuel. That’s what we did well in the 500. We were able to save fuel better than most, and I came out in the top three or four after every pit cycle and I can race from there.”
Looking forward to Darlington next week. You have a win and four top 10’s in the last four starts. What is it about that place you’ve really taken to?
“I love Darlington. I felt like since I was a rookie there it was one of the tracks that clicked for me. I’m not really sure why other than just the difficulty of it, kind of respecting the place. I do feel I spent a lot of time as a kid watching races there. Kind of that visual memory of how to get around the place, knowing the cadence of it, has always paid off. I just really like the technical aspect of it. I feel like I really have a place I can live with the balance of the car that makes speed on the long run. I just try to live by those things. I think we’re going to be a little bit different this time around at Darlington as far as we’ve talked about, just because I felt in the spring, we were a top five car, but not very good on the short runs. Gotta get better on the short runs. Gotta qualifying a little bit better to have a shot, because we were really about a fourth or fifth place car and the race came down to a short run and we finished sixth, I believe. Just need to be a little bit better on the short runs.”
The regular season points kind of got jumbled last week with (Kyle) Larson going out so early. What did you and Rudy (Fugle) discuss as far as how you handle the next two races, just try to get max points to try and leapfrog over (Tyler) Reddick?
“I don’t think we’re really, I think, technically I guess we are in the race for the regular season, but I think we’re really eyeing fourth or fifth in points. I think we moved up a spot because of the penalty, and I think we just need to keep doing a good job. We didn’t have a great Richmond, but I feel like that was kind of status quo for us. Really, we lost a chunk of points at Indy. We lost a really big chunk of points there because we had a top four or five car and was wrecked out early. Just trying to climb out of that hole. I think going into that race we were only 40 back, then we were 90 back. Just trying to climb out of that hole and try to chip away at it. Like, I said, if we can get a few stage wins and try to finish fourth or fifth, that’s going to be realistic.”
When you approach the Daytona 500, or do you still think of it as I won my first career race, this place is special for that reason, first and foremost?
“It was weird. Every time I came here after my first win, I liked coming here but it didn’t really click for me like I… I wasn’t relieved or anything coming here. I was still super stressed because of the nature of this place. I feel like this time around coming here, I’m super relaxed. I think just the fact that this race, there’s less pressure for us, not really worried about the Playoffs and we can just kind of enjoy the fact we can reminisce on that win. I think there’s, at least for me, a lot more relaxation coming down here. I’m not as worried about the outcome, but anything can happen. Coming here, I just have that in my head, and just knowing the result could be bad, but trying to put as much effort as I can in on Saturday night and do a good job drafting. Stage 1 here is interesting, so I’ve thought about that. Just the fact that you don’t have to save fuel. I think you’ll see a different style race and some crashes in Stage 1 just because of the nature of how aggressive you can be pushing.”
What about the right-side window air deflector that’s added here, and how much do you, you were talking about paying attention to the charter deal, but how much do you pay attention when a car flips and how much do you watch it, or do you just leave that to others?
“I heard Kyle Busch talking about the right-side air deflectors as just a shark fin down the right side, I think. He said it maybe added some side force. Maybe, when we get to Kansas we can test that out a little bit, but I don’t know. I think it’s going to change the air somehow around the car. Any aero change does. I’m sure there will be a little bit to learn, I guess when we go to Darlington. I don’t know if it will be on there, but it’ll be something to learn there. As far as this weekend, I don’t worry about it. I don’t think about that. Honestly, I knew that he had flipped, but I just… I didn’t see the replay during the race, so I assumed there was some contact that created it. But really, it’s running your own race, and thinking about that later. When I saw it after the race and seeing he spun on his own and flipped, it was definitely surprising. It is kind of odd that a car flipped the same way the day before, so I don’t know if there is something there in the track, a dip or something. I don’t know. I don’t think about it that much outside of that.”
Ty Gibbs said that with the practice, a little bit in qualifying, you might feel it, but you’re just going to wing it. He said to wing it. Being a mere mortal here, do you feel… Will you have to have people tell you the data before you could tell it made a difference or will you feel it, do you think?
“It’s probably so small, I probably won’t feel it but who knows. It might change the balance or something a little bit, I don’t know. We’ll just have to see. Anytime there’s a change on the car, it’s going to change something. I assume it’ll be a little bit of a shift.”
After you saw video of his flip, are you glad NASCAR did something and do you have any thoughts on if this is the right way to go?
“Yeah, I’m glad they did something, but I just don’t really think about it. I just try to get myself as safe as possible in the car with all of my stuff. I’ve been changing some stuff here and there to try and feel safer, but I’m glad they did something because it was pretty odd. I don’t know what that experience is like, but I’m sure it’s not fun, especially with the issues you can have upside down if the car catches on fire, things like that. I think it’s good they looked at it and made a quick change and was proactive about it. That’s always a good thing.”
Since you mentioned change, did you make any changes after the Indianapolis crash or are you picking some things up from what other guys are experiencing now?
“I made some little changes in my car. Really, just kind of going back to what I ran last year with the HANS device. Really just made that change but it wasn’t necessarily related to that. It was more comfort-based, but I’ve always kind of tweaked things here or there to balance comfort and safety. There’s a lot of devices that can make you safe but just trying to get as comfortable as possible.”
This year, Daytona is not the regular season finale as it has been in years past. Do you like that we’re going to a track that’s nowhere near anything can happen like Daytona, or would you rather see Daytona as the regular season finale going forward?
“I don’t know. I’m indifferent. I feel like I care more what the Playoffs tracks are. I feel like when we were in that position in 2020, I don’t want to be in that position again. It about gave me a heart attack with the stress of it. I feel like leading into that race going into a superspeedway, we were three points out then ended up winning the race. The points took care of themselves. I don’t envy that position. I don’t know. It’s probably more entertaining to be for it to be the last race, for sure, but as a competitor I think it’s nice to have Darlington because it’s a crown jewel. It’s going to have a lot of importance, but it’s kind of going to give you that Playoff tune up that everyone’s going to bring a lot of their stuff and see what we have.”
From a convenience point of view and a finance point of view, is Bowman Gray better than going to California early in February every year?
“I don’t know. Those fans are pretty rowdy so I’m sure it’s going to be a heck of a show. I don’t know. I didn’t mind the LA thing. I thought it was pretty cool. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to go to Bowman Gray personally to drive up there. Whatever puts on a better show is better for everybody.”
The three races in the first round of the Playoffs couldn’t be any different and I’m just wondering how do you approach that going from one that runs like a superspeedway, to a road course, to a short track?
“Just race by race. I think it’s going to be race by race because it’s going to be chaotic in some ways. We don’t know what to expect with tires at Bristol, and Atlanta can be a crap shoot. There’s a lot that goes into running well at Atlanta, but you can always get into a crash at the front as we’ve seen with bad pushes and things. I mean, it’s going to be race by race and just seeing what points position you’re in. The only one I feel really good about is Watkins Glen based on last year and things. I feel like our road course stuff is really good. Just got to see what happens.”
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