DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — You can never count out an established race team. The same goes for William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports bunch, with the NASCAR Cup Series group looking to leave a mark in the upcoming Chase.
In the three seasons preceding 2026, Byron was the only driver to qualify for the Championship 4 every year. But the Rudy Fugle-led crew has yet to find its footing this season.
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“It’s been tough,” Byron said Friday at Daytona International Speedway, recalling his 2026 regular season. “I feel like my career and this 24 team has always been on an upward trajectory. We made three Championship 4s in a row; we’ve always gotten better through the years. This year hasn’t been a reality check, but it’s been a lot tougher. It’s been a grind. A lot of times, we haven’t had the pace to compete. Sometimes, we’ve had pretty good weekends, but we’re not where we want to be or need to be.”
The powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports has won just two of the opening 25 races in 2026, both by Chase Elliott. NASCAR’s version of the New York Yankees hasn’t seen Victory Lane since early May at Texas Motor Speedway, spanning the last 14 races.
Byron, who has collected 14 trophies since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022 — including a series-high six victories in 2023 — has just one win in the calendar year, coming at Martinsville Speedway last October. The No. 24 team has four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes, which are both the fewest Byron has recorded in a season since 2022. His 15.9 average finish is on pace to be his worst since 2020, when he averaged a 16.2 result.
When the championship standings rerack after an expected chaotic Daytona event, Byron could rank anywhere on The Chase grid from seventh — currently 64 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson — to 16th, sitting 58 points ahead of Shane van Gisbergen. But the three-time Daytona winner, who has won two of the last three Daytona 500s, believes there is still ample time to turn his 2026 season around.
“We’re a championship-capable team,” Byron said. “This year has been tough on us. We haven’t had a lot of consistency. I have no doubt that our group can put it together for the 10 weeks that we need to. I’m looking at it from a glass-half-full, and I feel like anybody is in the ballgame with the spread from first to 16th. It’s going to be about putting together 10 good weeks. I have a lot of faith in our group that we can do that. We just have to buckle down.
“We’ve already started working on Darlington [Raceway]; we started on that a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good track for us. We’re just waiting to see a breakthrough this year. Maybe it’s coming soon.”
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The No. 24 team’s newest hurdle is replacing pit-crew members Orane Ossowski (rear-tire changer) and Allen Holman (jackman) for the next two weeks at Daytona and The Chase opener at Darlington Raceway. On Lap 233 of last weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the left-rear wheel detached from the No. 24 car, sending Byron into the Turn 3 wall. That violated Sections 8.8.10.4.A&D in the NASCAR Rule Book. Hendrick Motorsports opted to pull jackman Dax Hollifield and rear-tire changer Rod Cox from the No. 48 pit crew of Alex Bowman for Daytona.