William Byron has had plenty of expertise to lean on for advice in his rookie Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. Prime among them: his seasoned teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, a four-driver roster that includes a wealth of knowledge from seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson.
But Byron has also had some guidance from a source outside the Hendrick fold, a helping hand who’s willing to offer his wisdom to the next wave of talent but who’s also standing his ground for the veteran guard on the track. That driver, one of this year’s “Big 3,” is Kevin Harvick.
“He has been open to helping and I feel like that’s been critical for my career,” says Byron, who recalled he was still racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series when they first crossed paths. “Kevin and I were actually hanging out at Watkins Glen a couple years ago, and he just basically told me the trajectory that I need to have on my career and the things I should look for. You just don’t get that from people a lot of times, so even this year, he’s sat down with me, we’ve had breakfast and had a chance to talk.
“I think Kevin is someone that’s open to helping the younger drivers. He wants to see us succeed, but he’s still really competitive and hard to beat.”
Byron and the rest of the field will take on Harvick & Co. in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM), the final road-course race in the regular season. The 20-year-old Byron will be making his first big-league start at the 2.45-mile track, where his only experience thus far is in Xfinity and K&N competition.
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Byron said he’s placed more emphasis on simulation work to get a better feel for the circuit, but that he’s also leaned on veteran road racers Max Papis and Ron Fellows for their feedback. An X-factor that may also provide a boost, the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet is fresh from a career-best sixth-place finish last weekend at Pocono Raceway.
That sort of result, Byron says, should help the team press a little less going forward.
“I think you start to not go outside your box of information,” Byron says. “I think when you’re struggling or have a bad run, you start to kind of throw stuff at the car or you take bigger risks that don’t need to happen. That’s when you get in trouble, so I feel like when you’re running better, you show up more relaxed and it’s more of a controlled weekend.”
Byron sits firmly in the adjustment period in his first full season at Hendrick Motorsports, with a handful of tracks still on the schedule that he’ll be visiting for the first time. One of the biggest shifts, he says, has been getting familiar with the increased race length, jumping up from the Xfinity Series’ maximum of 300-mile distances to a steady diet of 400- and 500-milers — something “I still feel like my mental clock is not completely used to,” he says.
Though there’s been more travel at the premier-series level with a longer season, Byron says he’s enjoyed the new flow to the weekend.
“You have a lot of time to think about the race,” Byron says. “There’s a lot of stuff that leads up to the race and then you have a chance to really get your mind right. I feel like in Xfinity, you qualify the same day, there’s a bunch of stuff happening, the Cup cars are practicing and then all of a sudden, you race. There’s such a jumbled mess of things going on, so I think the Cup schedule is a little bit more focused around the race, and that’s pretty cool.”
Byron currently holds a 71-point lead over Bubba Wallace in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year contest with 15 races left in the season. Though that title has been worn by some of the sport’s greats, Byron said his attention has been more focused on the overall standings and a late five-race push for the playoffs.
“I did probably earlier in the year, but I feel like it got to a point where you just need to improve the performance first and then that’s going to take care of itself,” Byron said of the rookie standings. “I think what’s positive right now is the runs we’re having. I’ll be honest, I don’t really look at the points as far as the gap or whatever because at this point, it’s probably going to take a win. I go out there hoping to win and I feel like we’re actually getting to that point where we’re going to contend for them. I’d rather do that this year than focus on points.”