NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
MARCH 28, 2026
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native is a three-time Martinsville winner in NASCAR’s top division, including the series’ most recent appearance at the track in October 2025.
Media Availability Quotes:
William, you’ve won three times here at Martinsville, including a clean sweep last October. How are you feeling going in tomorrow?
“Yeah, I feel good. I feel like not a lot has changed, so you know, for us, it’s just really trying to build on what we did here last fall and what we did at Bowman Gray. The tire is the same, but the horsepower is different, so just try to understand that in practice, how much that’s going to feel different.
But yeah, I love coming here (Martinsville). It’s always a battle with these two tracks back-to-back, Darlington and Martinsville, I was thinking on the way up here. Just tough places, so just got to be ready and do a good job.”
How do you evaluate where the team is so far overall? Obviously, for you guys on the 24 team, you have three straight top 10s and you guys have shown speed, but the team still being winless so far this season. Where do you feel like the 24 team and Hendrick Motorsports stand?
“Yeah, I think we’re executing well on race days. I feel like our pit stops have been pretty solid, but could be quicker on pit road. I feel like our starting balance on Saturdays has been off and I think that’s been throwing us for a curveball, particularly at Phoenix and Darlington, with the short-track package. So I feel like that was an adjustment. I feel like Las Vegas went pretty much according to plan and we had a lot of strength there. You saw three of our cars be in the top-five for most of the race, and we had a shot to win that race. Still just a touch off the 11 car (Denny Hamlin) there. But then, you have the superspeedways.
The road course was kind of similar to Phoenix in that sense, that we were a little bit off on balance. So I think we need to do a better job on balance on Saturdays so that we’re not guessing so much for Sundays. Some of that could be obviously the new body, but also just tire changes and things of that nature. We need to do a better job of utilizing our tools and getting closer to unload so that we’re not guessing so much.
Yeah, that’s kind of how I see it. You know, if we have smoother Saturdays, we qualify better and we don’t have so many question marks going in Sunday, we’ll probably have a better weekend.”
You have been good both here (Martinsville) in the spring and the fall, but there is some kind of a difference between two races, in terms of who is strong and who is good. Why the difference?
“Yeah, I mean it’s similar at every racetrack, really, but I feel like it’s probably noticeable here (Martinsville) with the short-track and just tire wear. But I feel like the balance of the track is different, and because of that, you have some tendencies in your driving style that are unique. I think this place probably changes the least, but it just seems like the amount of time that goes by between this race and the fall race is just so big that there’s probably a lot of time for development and that’s probably why you see different guys be good by the fall. You know, sometimes if you’re good here (at Martinsville) in the spring, you kind of rest on that and try to bring it back, but you’re not as good. We’ve lived that. I feel like it’s better to live the song and dance of like – hey, you’re pretty good in the spring and then you come back here in the fall and you put it all together.”
Do you have to change your driving style for the two races? Some tracks, you don’t have to, but here, do you have to modify?
“There are some little differences. I feel like the fall race, the fall-off is typically a little higher, so there’s a little bit more tire wear. So there’s some little differences, but I feel most of it is in car setup and just kind of what your approach is. So yeah, for some reason the track is just a little bit different here in the spring versus the fall.”
Earlier this week, NASCAR said they’re kind of looking at considering using the 750-horsepower package at intermediate tracks, possibly next year. I’m just curious, what do you think the overall effect on the racing would be if they went in that direction?
“I don’t know. I think our intermediate package is pretty good right now. I feel like it puts on a pretty good race. I mean, at Las Vegas, I just think about how we were three-wide for the lead for multiple laps and that’s hard to recreate. So I feel like the intermediate package is good the way it is. I’ll be honest, I thought last week had less grip. I thought it was a good thing in that sense of tire fall off, but it was not easier to pass. If anything, the wake behind other cars was worse. I think there’s still work to do on that, so with that being said, I don’t think the power is a bad thing, but I don’t necessarily think the wake behind the cars last week with the short-track aero was any better.”
I know, obviously, it’s early in the season, but we’re six going on seven races in. Do you notice people racing any differently because of the change in the championship format?
“Yeah, that’s a great question. I think I do. I notice guys are just a little more protective of their finish, which I feel like in the past, you have maybe some more issues in stage three where guys have issues and they don’t finish as well. So I think there’s more emphasis on finishing well, but goes with that is stage points because, like you know last year, we had a really good start to the season. We scored a lot of stage points. This year, we’re not scoring as many stage points and we’re not as high up in the points. So I think there’s more of an emphasis on finishing the race strong, but I still think with stage points, you can’t overcome not having a good couple stages, and so the guys scoring a lot of points might still not finish as well, but they’re just scoring throughout the weekend on the stages.”
What are your thoughts about racing at Bristol and what stands out about racing at Bristol?
“It’s not really been my favorite place. I feel like it just hasn’t been great, result-wise. I think it’s just really fast-paced. The way you kind of load up into the banking with the concrete is very unique and just really hurts the tires if you’re a little bit off. So I think just finding a good rhythm there, where you can make speed but not damage your tires. It really depends on the weather on how much tire wear we’re going to have. So if it’s 70 degrees and sunny, it’s no big deal… you’re going to be able to run the top of the racetrack. If it’s 60 degrees or below and cloudy, it’s probably going to be a high tire wear race.”
How much stock should we put into what we see tomorrow (at Martinsville), as far as trying to see who has what on a short track, considering that there is the higher horsepower in play?
“Yeah, I would say a lot of stock. I mean, if you’re good here tomorrow, you’re probably going to be good at the other short-tracks. Bristol is different, so I don’t think it really is an indicator for there. But the other places — North Wilkesboro and Richmond comes to mind. If you’re good here, you’ll probably be pretty good at those other places. I’d say the majority of our tracks are going to be the mile-and-a-halves, so you need to be good here because it’s an important time of the year, but there’s really not many of these until you know, middle of the summer to late fall.”
What do you remember from your first trip here 10 years ago? I think it was your first track you’d ever gone to as a NASCAR fan…
“Yeah, it was actually like 22 years ago, Bryon said. “I’m getting old (Byron laughs). I’m 28 now, but I think I came here when I was six. But yeah, I just remember playing with the slot cars out in the parking lot. Where they have the parking lot now, it used to be the fan zone. But I just remember playing with the slot cars and just getting in the stands. We were probably about 20 rows up. I just remember the engines firing up and just as soon as that happened, I just had this energy and I was like – man, I love this.
“I’d already watched a lot of races on TV, so I kind of knew what I was looking for. But for some reason,” Byron said, “I just remember the launch off turn two (at Martinsville). You could see — I think it was Tony Stewart and Jamie (McMurray) were running well that day and Tony ended up winning the race. But the way they got off turn two was just really important, at least for my seat, so just remember that. I came back for many races. I remember Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick going at it the one year. I thought Dale had been on kind of a winless streak and so the fans were really pulling for him, and then Kevin passed him with like six laps to go and that was not a super popular win.
But yeah, I remember those two races. And then, I came here with Stefan Parsons, my good buddy, and sat on the pit box with him and Phil and watched their car go around here. And then, I think that was the year that Jeff Gordon won, not his last race, but like the 2013 race, I think it was. The cars had a lot of power back then, so you could see him kind of light up the tires on exit of the corner. So yeah, a lot of cool races here. It’s close to home, so here and Darlington, they’re kind of my favorite tracks.”
Do you have anything planned for the off-weekend?
“No, not yet. I’m not a planner, so I need to figure that out. My friends have been bugging me about it and trying to figure something out, but I just need to get through the weekend and see where I’m at.”
You mentioned pit stop performance… is that something you’re reviewing on a regular basis? Are you contributing or are you asking for changes? How does that work… is that just a coach’s thing?
“No, I think we have a really we have a really strong team, so I think it’s just looking at some of your stats and looking at just the general performance,” Byron explained. “How it can get in the pit stall, how it can be more effective on our rolling time. It’s a whole equation; it’s not just the pit stop. I think it’s pit stall selection. We haven’t qualified as well, so we haven’t had the best, like top-five or six pit stalls, so we need to do better there to have cleaner ins and outs. But you know, try to just continue to get a couple tenths here and there on the pit stop itself. I think trying to be as quick as we can be, especially when we have track position, we have an opportunity to capitalize and gain a spot inside the top-five because I feel like those spots are a lot harder to come by on-track, as well.”
About General Motors
General Motors (NYSE:GM) is driving the future of transportation, leveraging advanced technology to build safer, smarter, and lower emission cars, trucks, and SUVs. GM’s Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands offer a broad portfolio of innovative gasoline-powered vehicles and the industry’s widest range of EVs, as we move to an all-electric future.
GM Motorsports, including the Cadillac Formula 1® Team develops and proves advanced technologies in the most demanding environments, accelerating innovation in performance, safety, efficiency, and electrification for its production vehicles. Cadillac Racing is one of the leading manufacturers in the IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championships (WEC). Chevrolet competes in single seaters in the US IndyCar series, and in NASCAR with multiple team partners and drivers. Corvette customer teams compete in GT series across the globe including IMSA and WEC. Learn more at GM.com.
