Another triumphant return to his roots has William Byron ready for the 2023 NASCAR season

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – One could see the smile on William Byron’s face from a mile away. On Tuesday, for the second consecutive night, Byron was standing in Victory Lane at New Smyrna Speedway after winning a super late model race. This time it was the Clyde Hart Memorial, a 100-lap race that pays tribute to the Florida track’s late owner. It marks the second consecutive year Byron opened his season by winning at New Smyrna, the same venue where he turned his first laps in a super late model in 2015. RELATED: Follow the World Series of Asphalt on FloRacing [caption id="attachment_381933" align="alignleft" width="300"] (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)[/caption] “I actually ran about 10 laps, and Jeff Fultz, my crew chief, said to bring it in, and we blew something in the right-front and went straight into the Turn 1 wall,” Byron said as he recalled his first laps in a super late model. “I was fast up until that point. Maybe it knocked some sense into me after that.” A lot has changed for Byron since he turned those first laps at New Smyrna. He is now an established NASCAR Cup Series star who is about to begin his sixth season driving for Hendrick Motorsports at the sport’s top level. Yet there he stood, in Victory Lane at a half-mile short track located 20 minutes from Daytona International Speedway. He could be doing anything with his days leading up to Sunday’s 65th running of the Daytona 500, but he chose to race at New Smyrna. He chose to return to his roots. “It’s just nice to come over from the big track and have the chance to race a few nights. It’s a good race track,” Byron said. “It puts on good shows. They’re quick. I like everything about it. How quick the show is, it’s a good thing for late model racing.” Byron's success at New Smyrna is a continuation of the success he enjoyed in his return to super late model racing last season. Driving for Donnie Wilson Motorsports, Byron collected multiple triumphs throughout the course of the 2022 campaign. Those wins came at a variety of tracks, including New Smyrna, Wisconsin’s Slinger Super Speedway, North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway and Tennessee’s Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. [caption id="attachment_381901" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] William Byron during night 5 of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing event at Florida's New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 14, 2023. (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)[/caption] So what is the key to Byron’s success with Donnie Wilson Motorsports? “I think we just have good chemistry,” Byron said. “We’ve spent a lot of time together over the last year, so we’ve got a good notebook. They’ve got good notes from the past, too. When I came over, our notebook was already pretty strong. We’ve built on it a little bit, but certainly it was already in a pretty good place.” For Byron, racing at the grassroots level is key to his own personal development. He believes it helps make him a better driver when he races in the NASCAR Cup Series against drivers like Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott, all of whom like to venture into grassroots racing from time to time. [caption id="attachment_381934" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] (Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)[/caption] Even more than that, in racing at the grassroots level, Byron is supporting the level of the sport that helped him become the star in the NASCAR Cup Series he is today. “Honestly, I do it for my own reasons. To get better, I think that’s the biggest thing. Just trying to improve and be the best I can be for my team on Sundays,” Byron said. “There are a lot of other reasons, too. The fans, the support and giving back to grassroots racing to keep it healthy. “You don’t want to see it dwindle and die. You want to make sure it’s still on good footing, and the guys that come in that are younger have good people to race against. That’s important.” When all the Victory Lane photos were done and technical inspection was complete, Byron walked out the same gates he walked in eight years ago when he turned his first laps in a super late model. His focus is now firmly on Sunday’s Daytona 500, but the smile he wore in Victory Lane on Tuesday night at New Smyrna wasn’t going away anytime soon. “I’ll be happy all the way to Sunday. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”