NASCAR Cup Series: William Byron poised for strong second season

After a disappointing rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, William Byron is poised for success in the 2019 campaign.

William Byron entered the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season having never driven in the Cup Series before. Coming off of his 2017 Xfinity Series championship-winning season and being set to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, he was an extremely highly touted rookie.

The 21-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native had previously had a ton of success in pretty much every series he drove. Before he won the Xfinity Series championship driving for JR Motorsports in his first season in the series, he was one blown engine away from winning the 2016 Truck Series championship.

Byron entered the 2016 Truck Series season, his first full season in the Truck Series, after winning the 2015 K&N Pro Series East in his first season driving in that series.

It was no secret why expectations were so high for the driver set to replace Kasey Kahne behind the wheel of the #5-turned-#24 Chevrolet.

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However, while the 2018 Cup Series season resulted in him winning the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award, it did not quite result in what many people expected it would out of Byron. Plus, he had only one other driver, Richard Petty Motorsports’ Darrell Wallace Jr., with whom to compete to win that award.

To give Byron the benefit of the doubt, Chevrolet teams were thrown quite a learning curve upon their switch from the SS to the new Camaro ZL1. Chevrolet drivers combined to win just four races this past season while Ford drivers combined to win 19 races and Toyota drivers combined to win 13 races.

Throughout the season, Byron showed flashes of strength. He recorded four top 10 finishes, including a career-high sixth place finish in the July race at Pocono Raceway. He recorded three top 9 finishes in the season’s final 16 races after recording only one top 10 finish in its first 20 races.

However, with his 23rd place finish in the championship standings, Byron finished ahead of only three of the other 11 Chevrolet drivers who competed in all 36 of the season’s races, and he did so despite the fact that he drove for the Chevrolet team that earned Chevrolet three of their four victories in 2018 and that had three of their four drivers finish in the top five in the standings among Chevrolet drivers. Plus, his sixth place finish was tied for the worst top finish among the full-time Chevrolet drivers.

But while his average finishing position was a disappointing 22.1, Byron’s laps led total of 61 was the fourth highest among Chevrolet drivers. He trailed only playoff drivers Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing as well as Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, two of his three teammates, in that category. Perhaps ever more notably, he ranked ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, the other two Chevrolet playoff drivers, in this category.

This alone gives Byron a lot to build on as he prepares to return for his second season of Cup Series competition of 2019.

Add to this the fact that Chad Knaus is set to leave the top of the pit box of the seven-time champion Johnson after 17 seasons and take over as Byron’s crew chief.

Knaus is a seven-time champion, and Hendrick Motorsports have opted to move him from Johnson’s pit box to the pit box of a driver who barely has half the number of career top 10 finishes as Johnson has career championships.

In addition to the obvious fact that Johnson is 43 years old and his career has clearly been on the decline over the last few seasons, when it boils down to it, this move may have been executed by Hendrick Motorsports for one (or both) of two reasons.

They see Byron’s potential as a future champion.
They want to see if Byron can improve enough by working with the best crew chief in the business to retain his position in the team’s long-term plans.

Regardless, this move should increase Byron’s motivation. The fact that this move is happening with him already having a full season of Cup Series competition under his belt could and should also play to his advantage and give him confidence as he seeks his first career Cup Series victory and playoff berth in the 2019 season.

In our recent interview with DraftKings NASCAR analyst Pearce Dietrich, he stated that he believes Knaus will all but ensure that Byron gets into the playoffs and that it really may not even be close.

"“The top 16 drivers make the playoffs, and there are only 20 competitive cars. We’re not talking about getting into Harvard. Chad Knaus could get Morgan Shepherd into the playoffs.”"

Byron is undoubtedly poised for a strong and improved 2019 season, and that will likely result in him locking up his first career playoff berth, perhaps even via a regular season victory. That said, as far as advancing to the late rounds of the playoffs, he is probably still a few seasons away.

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How do you believe William Byron will perform in his second season driving the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2019? Do you believe that he will clinch his first career playoff berth and/or victory?

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