By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Since hoisting the Harley J. Earl Trophy a year ago, William Byron is forever known as a Daytona 500 champion, and he has no intentions of just being a one-time winner in “The Great American Race.”
The defending Daytona 500 champion enters this weekend with more tremendous joy than he’s ever had in his NASCAR Cup Series career. Certainly, a perk that’ll never be taken for granted as the Hendrick Motorsports driver is looking to become the first driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s since Denny Hamlin did so in 2019 and 2020.
“I have more passion and excitement for this race than I did before,” said Byron during Wednesday’s Media Day. “I feel like having experienced it the way it was last year really changed my perspective on the race as a whole in a good way, obviously.
“I feel that’s created some more motivation to get another one. This race, it’s a lifetime achievement. It’s something people reference everywhere you go. It’s something that the first time in my career I’ve had something like that. It makes it cool, it makes it more special, because you can tell people care about the race.”
With that victory under his belt, the amount of control Byron has in being successful at Daytona remains mostly out of his hands. More than any other track on the NASCAR calendar, the 2.5-mile superspeedway is unpredictable where luck has become paramount to even have a chance of being victorious at the World Center of Racing.
However, Byron thinks there’s many aspects a driver can control that what he can’t do as putting yourself in a position to victory is essential. It’s not when the 200-lap event is coming down to the wire, it begins during Wednesday night’s qualifying session as only the front row, something Byron has done on multiple occasions.
For the reigning Daytona 500 champion, he will have some work to do to score a second Duel race victory as he ended up the slowest Hendrick Motorsports entry with a 21st place time trial result. Thus, Byron will roll off 11th in Thursday’s Race No. 1 of the 60-lap Duel race.
“You can get yourself on the front row, and that gives you a great opportunity to not have to stress about the Duels,” Byron commented. “If you’re not locked in on the front row, you have to race the Duels and understand what your car has and try to keep it in one piece. It’s a process throughout the week, then obviously, Sunday is about positioning yourself as the stages go along and really like the last 20 laps of the race essentially.
“It’s just a process. You really can’t think too far ahead. I’m not thinking about Sunday at all yet. Just trying to get through tonight and check the boxes that I need to have a good qualifying lap.”
Thursday’s Duels is the most anticipated event of this weekend as not only determines the rest of the starting lineup, but the potential of notable entries going home as seven drivers are fighting for two spots.
This includes JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, a car prepared by HMS and competing in the same Duel race. Affiliate or not, Byron won’t take into consideration who’s trying to make the Daytona 500 due to the competitive nature of wanting to win his race.
“I don’t have any awareness of that,” said Byron. “For me, if I’m on the racetrack, I’m just going to try and win. If they’re racing in the other Duel or if I get out of the car, I’ll look at it.”
Another Daytona characteristic that’s gradually coming back into play is how the car handles on the aging surface. Some drivers have said it’s creeping back in, but others like Byron see two different sides where handling may or may not be as much of a premium compared to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“This car has a lot of drag, so with that comes lower speeds and more downforce,” Byron explained. “This car doesn’t really require as much handling, but it’s still going to matter. If we were back on the old surface or with the old Gen 6 car, we’d be slipping around quite a bit.
“This car is pretty stuck to the track here. It’s all relative, though. I think that the cars are going to get more and more trimmed out as the teams get smarter, so we’re probably going to have something a bit more unique here than we’ve seen in years past with the way it handles.”
Byron later said that over the last few Daytona 500s, track position is among the most important things out there as passing has become more challenging than ever. More so when a competitor is running three-wide and if you’re way back in the pack, game over for the driver. Thanks in large part of the current superspeedway package.
“The racing has just got really tight and competitive, and everybody is sort of in a really tight gridlock. It’s really hard to make moves,” said Byron. “Three-wide is tough to make. I feel like you’ve got to be up towards the front.
“Track position is really important, and you have to be towards the front side coming down to the end. I think in the past, that was the case, but you could see a guy win from 10th on the last lap. I just don’t think that’ll happen in this package anymore.”
Byron will have a chance of improving his starting position in his Duel race with live coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Live race coverage of the 67th Daytona 500 where Byron looks to score another victory, begins Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Be the first to comment