NASCAR CUP SERIES
PHOENIX RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 6, 2026
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double-duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Phoenix Raceway.
Media Availability Quotes:
A lot of talk about cool shirts and everything. I’m curious, how many issues, if any, have you had? And is it time for drivers to ask NASCAR to step in, or do you feel like the teams can figure out what to do?
“Yeah, I’ve definitely had my share of races that it doesn’t work. And, you know, it’s an interesting phenomenon because really thinking about my career, I’ve been wearing that thing since I’ve been Cup racing. It really was coming on board in 2017. Jimmie (Johnson) and Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), I think, were really adamant that it was a good thing. Definitely when it works, it’s great. But I feel like there’s definitely a handful, if not more times, that it doesn’t work. That shirt is very insulated. I was at a Martinsville test one time and was wearing it and didn’t turn it on for most of the day and just started to feel sick because just the way it insulates your body and kind of has the opposite effect when it’s not on. So, yeah, I think I’m open to other options. We used to just have blowers in the car that would just blow air on your back. So finitely, we’ve talked about looking at other options and seeing what’s out there. It’s effective, but at the same time, if it doesn’t work or it doesn’t work as well, like I said, it’s pretty insulated. It’s like wearing a coat. The Nomex that Alpine Stars gives us is pretty effective when you start to sweat, you know, the technology in it. So we’ll see. We’ll see where it goes.”
With the increased horsepower package this year, are you guys coming with similar setups that we have in the past, say for the fall championship race with the same tire that we’re coming with this week, or are you guys maybe getting a little bit aggressive with the setup for practice to kind of see how the car is going to react?
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything we can do until we know how it’s going to react on track.
I mean, in the sim, you can simulate going faster down the straightaway, a little bit more tire wear, but you just don’t know how it’s going to really act and react. We’ve been down that road before when you get a new aero package; you try to guess, and a lot of times, you guess wrong. So it’s really just about trying to figure out how different it is with tire wear and all those things.
But I really think the biggest place you’ll notice it is Darlington coming up, especially with the aero change there. Going to the short track package at Darlington I think is going to be a big difference, so that’ll be probably the first race we run that’s like kind of that shock moment of what is the car going to feel like and what do we have to do to adjust.”
We all know about your time on iRacing and coming up with eSports and all that. I know you’re a stock car guy, but as a kid, did you ever fool around with any of the INDYCAR races and what’s it like here to share a weekend with INDYCAR? They might be names that you’ve seen on TV or only heard about, but what’s it like to actually be out there? “Yeah, they’re very quiet going around the racetrack, which is pretty nice. So maybe something to be learned for that (laughs).
But yeah, I mean, I haven’t been to an INDYCAR race, so this is probably the first time. I think maybe early in my career, they raced to Texas with us in the Trucks. But I have quite a few friends over there in that garage, so it’s just cool to have that crossover and be able to be in the same space as them this weekend.
Very excited to watch the race. You know, I think it’s going to be really exciting to see how they navigate this place. It looks like they put some hash marks down in the corner, so I’m interested to see how that kind of plays into our grip and package. But yeah, I think it’ll be interesting to see how they navigate this place and what kind of lines they run. It looks like they kind of are stuck to running just above the yellow line, so they can’t really use the apron like we do. But we’ll see, and we’ll see kind of how the rubber plays out, too.”
Did you have any favorite drivers coming up that you’d watch in the Indianapolis 500 or anything? What do you think of the difference in speed?
“I would say from 12-13 years old, I would watch the Indianapolis 500 and, of course, watch the Coca-Cola 600, as well. I remember Dan Wheldon winning. I remember J.R. Hildebrand running well for a few years. I don’t know, that kind of time period, the National Guard car. I guess that’s what I remember.
Like I said, the cars are really quiet, so I’m curious to kind of see the speed difference. I haven’t really seen him go around the racetrack yet, so I’m curious how that’s going to look.”
How much are you looking at points after three races? I mean, obviously, we don’t really know what the meat of the season is going to look like yet, but you’re 13th. You’re probably trying to get a top-three seed, at least, based on what everybody’s talking about. So is that a concern for you? Do you feel okay about where you are?
“Yeah, it’s funny. (Christopher) Bell and I were talking about this at driver intros last week. It just feels like the longer we do this, the more it takes a few races to kind of get into the meat of the season and what really makes up our season and the tracks. So, for me, it’s felt super long this year just kind of getting into the rhythm of the season. I don’t want to classify it as a ‘real racetrack’, but these places that really make up the finesse and the speed that it takes to win a championship.
So, yeah, I think I’m just kind of eager to get out there this weekend. We’ve done a lot of prep for Phoenix. To answer your question on where we stand, I think what’s frustrating for us is feeling like we’ve given up a few points the last couple weeks. You know, I crashed the week before at Atlanta. We had some damage, and then I crashed, and so that gave away a handful. And then last week, I felt like we gave away a handful at the end there in the last run. I just feel like those sting a little more than they used to probably, but we’ve – like (Kyle) Larson said this week, we’ve always points raced as a top team. Our goal last year was to win the regular season championship, and we got off to a good start and made that a little bit easier. But, yeah, we’ve just been kind of middle of the road right now. We’ve scored 25-26 points on average. We’d like to score, you know, 35 to 40 on average. So definitely below average right now, but I think we’re going to see what we have this weekend, that’s for sure.”
Is it something that you’re concerned with that the two 23XI drivers are so far out there, or do you feel like really you guys need to go to kind of a good sampling of all the different kinds of tracks before you size up?
“Yeah, I mean look — they’ve hit a home run on two drafting tracks. To score the points that they did is phenomenal. If you start the year and you say, man, if we could score 40 to 50 points on drafting tracks, that’s going to be a huge advantage. So they’ve accumulated a big advantage in those drafting tracks. And then COTA, I don’t think was any surprise to me that Tyler (Reddick) ran so well. But they executed really well, and that momentum was big. So I think for us on the 24 team, it’s not really about looking at anyone else. It’s looking at ourselves. If we get to race 26 and that gap is still there, then shoot, you know, wish we could have had a couple things back. But there’s so much circumstance in those first couple weeks that you’ve got 26 weeks to figure it out. I think there’s going to be plenty of ebb and flow in the next, I don’t know, 20-22 weeks.”
Is this a place that you wanted to compete in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series? Did specifically you picked it?
“Yeah, I think I’ve done this in the past and kind of ran the road courses because you think that that’s going to help you and all of that. Sometimes a Cup car and an O’Reilly car are very different. So now, I feel like the O’Reilly car is fun at certain places. This was a place that before the schedule got changed up, I thought, okay, this is an important place with the championship. And it still is because it’s still in the Chase, so I think that factored into it. But it’s just about having fun and trying to go win. You know, I like to be competitive and I like to win. I’ll try to challenge myself this weekend; pressure on myself to win and hopefully we can do that.”
Anthony Alfredo is getting the opportunity to fill in for Alex Bowman. He’s been an instrumental part of the team on the sim aspect. How much input and significance has he been for you during the time when it used to be the finale here at Phoenix and now getting that opportunity under, obviously, odd circumstances with Alex?
“Yeah, I’m happy for Anthony (Alfredo). I feel like he’s worked hard and grinded in the sim. He hasn’t had that many opportunities in NASCAR that are, you know, quality opportunities. I feel like he’s had a lot of races, which is good, but not something in a top car. So I’m looking forward to seeing how he does.
And, yeah, I mean, that work is really tedious on the sim. Those guys go in there at 7 a.m. and they work on tires and they’re staring at a screen for five, six hours at a time. It’s definitely an admirable job that he’s doing there and feel like, even through the iRacing stuff — like he actually helped install my sim at my house a couple years ago (laughs). So, yeah, it’s just fun to see him out here and I hope he does well. I saw him at the shop on Wednesday and he was trying to absorb a lot. He was quizzing me with all types of questions on aero and how these cars handle. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing how he does.”
Given the right opportunity and the right circumstances, would you try racing in INDYCAR one day?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, the Indy 500 obviously is always exciting to watch. I just feel like I need to win a NASCAR championship first. That’s first and foremost on my goals, and then I’ll kind of look outside, maybe.
But, yeah, I’ve always been probably a person that could have run a lot of other stuff. Given my background, I could have diversified a lot more. It just didn’t work out that way. So with kind of the nature of my career, I feel like I just stick to what I’m doing and what I’m good at. But at the same time, it’d be cool to expand outside. I just feel like I’ve got to get comfortable and accomplish what I want to here and then maybe look at that.”
You mentioned earlier about Anthony (Alfredo) working on the tires and with the softer tire and the 750 horsepower, how much have you really had to pay attention to the tire degradation and just getting a balance so you don’t use your equipment up until the time is right?
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like the tire saving part of things is a little overblown because it really still comes down to setup. There is management in that, but it still comes down to kind of the balance of the two.
But, yeah, I think it’s going to play a role, this softer tire. We talked about it this week, hopefully it’s a little bit more durable. The teams have gone to work on camber, air pressure, to figure out that equation for what makes the tire wear out or blow. But, yeah, hopefully it’s a little more predictable this week and we can just try to manage it the best we can.”
Not to compare yourself to Corey Day, but to get into a situation where he’s coming into the second hardest stock car series and acclimating to it, how difficult is that for people on the outside looking in? I mean, how would you explain it to them kind of what he’s experiencing?
“Yeah, I mean, he’s done a lot of racing with a car that’s kind of half the size. I feel like probably the dimensions of the car are the toughest part for him. He didn’t do late model racing. Like when (Christopher) Bell came up, he raced against me in late models, so he got the chance to kind of understand where the wall is and where other cars are.
I feel like that is probably the toughest part. The speed aspect, I feel like he has a pretty good handle on. But, yeah, just the race craft is probably difficult. I don’t know how much iRacing he’s done or sim stuff he’s done to kind of bridge that gap. So, yeah, I can’t imagine. I don’t come from that background, so I don’t know exactly what the factors are there, but probably the dimensions are difficult.”
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