RAIN IS A GOOD THING: After qualifying 18th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, William Byron went to work, making his way through the field during Sunday evening’s NASCAR Cup Series race. By the end of stage one, Byron had worked his way up to the fifth position. However, during the stage break pit sequence, the No. 24 team was assessed a pit road penalty for a safety violation that forced Byron to start at the rear of the field. Trying to overcome the lost track position, he was unfortunately involved in an on-track incident on lap 80 that forced him to come down pit road for repairs, ultimately putting him one lap down. However, Byron was able to regain his lap on the next caution and began working his way through traffic. With weather looming, crew chief Rudy Fugle used an alternate pit strategy that allowed his driver to restart the final stage in third. Byron ultimately took the lead on lap 167 and maintained that position until the race was shortened due to weather after 185 laps completed. The 25-year-old driver earned his fourth win of the season.
WINNER, WINNER: With four race wins in 2023, Byron leads the Cup Series field with the most victories. In fact, he now has eight wins total in his career at NASCAR's top level. The first four wins came across 182 Cup Series starts, while his last four came across 17 starts. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native also has scored six wins in the Next Gen era, the most of any driver. The victory at Atlanta also marked the 101st victory for the No. 24, which is now tied with the No. 3 for fourth on the all-time wins list by car number. The iconic number is one triumph away from moving into a tie for third with the No. 2 at 102 wins.
NEW NO. 1: With seven races left in the regular season, Byron is now leading the driver points standings. With a 21-marker lead over second, he is looking for his first regular-season championship and the extra 15 playoff points that come with it. To this point of the campaign, Byron leads the series in average running position (8.80), laps led (741), wins (four), stage wins (seven) and laps run in the top five (2,509). He is tied with teammate Kyle Larson for the most top-five finishes (eight) and has the second-most top-10s (11) and laps run in the top 10 (3,272).
MR. 200: This Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will mark Byron’s 200th Cup Series start. In his previous 199 races in NASCAR's top division, the driver of the No. 24 has eight wins, 10 pole awards, 34 top-five finishes, 73 top-10s and 2,346 laps led.
I WALK THE LINE: Byron will make his 41st start on tracks 1- to 1.37-miles in length (Darlington Raceway, Dover Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, New Hampshire, Phoenix Raceway and WWT Raceway). In his previous 40 starts at tracks in that length range, he collected one pole award, two wins, eight top-five finishes, 17 top-10s with 431 laps led. This season, Byron has won at Phoenix and Darlington.
LOVIN’ LOUDON: Early in his career, Byron got off to an unbeatable start at "The Magic Mile." Making his debut at the 1.058-mile oval in the 2015 ARCA Menards Series East race, he qualified on the pole and led 68 of 70 laps to take home the checkered flag. Byron followed it up the next year by dominating the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race where he started from the pole and led 161 of 175 laps en route to his sixth of seven victories in 2016. Moving up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2017, Byron earned a top-five finish after starting seventh and finishing third. He has five Cup Series starts at NHMS, with four top-15 finishes and a best finish of 11th occurring twice (once in 2020 and then again in 2022).
RUDY PUTS THE MAGIC IN ‘MAGIC MILE’: Byron isn’t the only one who enjoys racing at New Hampshire. His crew chief Rudy Fugle does as well. Currently, Fugle has two Cup Series starts under his belt with a best showing of 11th coming in last year’s race with the No. 24 team. The Livonia, New York, native has four other national series starts at the 1.058-mile oval. In three Truck Series starts, he has earned one pole award and two wins, including a victory with Byron from the pole position in 2016. In fact, Fugle’s drivers have an average starting position of 2.3 and an average finishing position of 3.0 at New Hampshire in the Truck Series.
PIT ROAD PROWESS: After 19 races in the 2023 season, the No. 24 pit crew remains in the top spot with the fastest average four-tire pit stop time of 10.973 seconds. The No. 24 pit crew consists of Spencer Bishop (jackman), Jeff Cordero (front-tire changer), Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer), Ryan Patton (tire carrier) and Landon Walker (fueler). The team also has three of the fastest four-tire stops of the season, which rank sixth (9.383 seconds), eighth (9.443 seconds) and ninth (9.504 seconds) overall.
HEADING HOME: Two crew members of the No. 24 team call New Hampshire their home track. A part of the No. 24 team since 2019, car chief Tyler Jones hails from South Royalton, Vermont, less than 100 miles northwest of “The Magic Mile.” Cordero, who has been the front-tire changer since last season, calls Salem, Connecticut, home, which is less than 200 miles south of the venue.
RAPTOR® TOUGH: For this weekend’s race at New Hampshire, Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will have RaptorTough.com back on board. RAPTOR® is a durable protective coating that is designed to tolerate the toughest climatic conditions and can be applied to a wide range of items, including truck beds, lawnmowers, outdoor furniture and more. With 16 pre-mixed colors available, it’s easy to personalize anything you want to protect. RAPTOR® is available at local paint distributors, auto parts stores, and online retailers. For a better look at Byron’s No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevy, click here.
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on holding the points lead: "We've still got seven races until the playoffs, and we've just got to keep inching up on it. We can't have any major bad weeks. Atlanta (Motor Speedway) looked like it was going to be a bad week and we overcame it. It's a good lesson to learn, but I think we're coming up on two tough tracks that we've got to really hone in on with Pocono (Raceway) and Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway)."
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what makes New Hampshire a difficult track: "New Hampshire (Motor Speedway) is one of the toughest on the schedule. The way to make these Next Gen cars go fast is to have them low to the ground but at the same time, all of your grip goes away if you’re too low. We live in a 30-thousandth window. We want all the grip but not to lose all the grip and that’s New Hampshire in a nutshell."
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