William Byron Is NASCAR’s Newest Rising Star

William Byron has all the momentum in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series, and the future looks promising for the 18-year-old driver.

The past few seasons in NASCAR have been filled with the rise of young talent. Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Erik Jones are among the next wave of future stars that rose from the Truck Series and Xfinity Series.

This season, we’re seeing yet another driver leave his mark.

Since the beginning of May, no Truck Series driver has been better than William Byron. As a member of Kyle Busch Motorsports, Byron has taken his driving to the next level.

Coming into 2016, he had participated in just one Truck Series race, which resulted in a finish of 31st at Phoenix in 2015.

He came into this season as the full-time driver of the No. 9 Liberty University Toyota Tundra, and he’s been nothing less than spectacular. It took Byron two races to get warmed up, as he finished 13th at Daytona and 32nd at Atlanta, but since the third race of the season, he’s been arguably the best driver in the Truck Series.

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At Martinsville, Byron posted a career-best third-place finish. Then at Kansas, he took a huge step forward.

He started in second, the best start of his career, and went on to lead 34 laps. When the race went to overtime, he seemed destined to finish third, as Johnny Sauter and Ben Rhodes were battling for the lead. However, Rhodes made a move in Turn 3 that spun both himself and Sauter.

Byron was able to make the pass and hold off Matt Crafton for his first win.

The next two weekends at Dover and Charlotte featured two poles for Byron, including a combined total of 105 laps led in 11th and 10th-place finishes.

He got back to his winning ways at Texas. In a race where Crafton led 133 of 167 laps, Byron was able to use the top of the track to speed around the No. 88 truck and lead the last six laps en route to his second victory of the season.

But his success didn’t stop there.

At Iowa, Byron was easily the best driver on the track. He led 107 laps and even after falling to sixth for a late restart, he was able to battle his way back up to the front and make a beautiful three-wide pass for the lead. After controlling the final restart of the race and holding off Cole Custer, he found himself in Victory Lane again.

Byron is now coming off of back-to-back wins and has the most victories out of any driver in the Truck Series this season. He has himself first on the Chase grid and second in the overall driver standings, just 11 points behind Crafton.

He had this to say after the race (via NASCAR.com):

"“My gosh, it’s awesome just to be a part of Kyle Busch Motorsports and to have the group of guys I do. It’s amazing. I’m so fortunate to be in this position.”"

Now, after just nine races in the Truck Series, Byron finds himself with three wins, four top-5’s, five top-10’s, two poles and 252 laps led. Not bad for an 18-year-old.

So what has led to all of his success? Well certainly having Kyle Busch by your side through every race weekend helps, but the main thing Byron has done has put himself in position to win races.

He wasn’t supposed to win at Kansas, but he was in position to pounce when Sauter and Rhodes spun. He wasn’t supposed to take down the king of the Truck Series in Matt Crafton, but he stayed with it and found the right opportunity to capitalize. He wasn’t supposed to fly through five cars late at Iowa, but he used his skills to complete a spectacular pass and earn a third win.

Despite being a newcomer to one of NASCAR’s major series, he has already planted his status as a contender for the championship this season.

must read: Chase Elliott Already Looks Like A Championship Contender

Pay attention to William Byron as the Truck Series continues on through 2016. He could be part of the current wave of youth that is sweeping over NASCAR and heading towards stardom in the future.