Editor’s note: This continues the series in which we review each 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs driver in reverse order of championship finish.
Season in review: William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Rudy Fugle
Final 2024 ranking: 3rd
Key stats: Three wins, 13 top fives, 21 top 10s, one pole position, 357 laps led
How 2024 ended: Byron bulled his way through the playoffs, then sweated out a nail-biter in the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville to claim the last spot in the Championship 4 field. His second consecutive appearance in the title-deciding event, however, had the same ending — a top-five finish in the race, and third overall in the Cup Series standings.
Best race: It’s tough to top winning the Cup Series’ biggest prize of all, and Byron added some sentimental elements to his first Daytona 500 victory in this year’s season opener. His triumph coincided with the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR Cup Series debut, kicking off the yearlong celebration of the organization’s stock-car racing milestone. Byron’s win was also the first in the “Great American Race” for the No. 24 since 2005, when Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon won the crown-jewel event for a third and final time.
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Other season highlights: Byron’s three victories in 2024 all came in the first eight races of the season. His last, however, was part of a special commemoration of the organization’s 40th-anniversary campaign, with all four Rick Hendrick-owned Chevrolets draped in ruby-red paint schemes for the springtime event at Martinsville Speedway. Byron led the way in a 1-2-3 Hendrick sweep ahead of teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, and the group celebrated with a massive team photo with dozens of assembled guests — all at the track where Hendrick Motorsports scored its first Cup Series win with Geoff Bodine back in 1984.
Stat to Know: Byron didn’t surpass any of his career-best marks in 2024, but his consistency in the home stretch of the Cup Series season was the best of anyone. His average finish for the final seven events was a remarkable 3.9 after a string of all top-six finishes to close it out.
Quotable: “It went well. Daytona 500, Championship 4, all that was good, but still more to go get. I thought it was kind of a growing year for us in a lot of different ways. I felt like we went through a lot of adversity and yeah, we came out the other side in a position to compete for the championship.” — Byron on assessing his season.
MORE: Byron through the years | Byron’s Martinsville milestone
Looking ahead: Speaking before the NASCAR Awards, Byron was bullish on continuing his relationship with longtime crew chief Rudy Fugle, who has been atop the No. 24 pit box for 12 Byron victories in the last four seasons. He also circled where improvement was needed: on tracks roughly a mile in length such as Gateway, New Hampshire and Phoenix, where the championship will be settled again in 2025. Byron won on a superspeedway, a road course and a short track last season, and the odds of the 27-year-old driver extending his win streak to six consecutive seasons seem highly likely.