NASCAR: William Byron has been dominant, but can he do it in real life?

By Asher Fair | May 17, 2020

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, at Dover International Speedway, iRacing, NASCAR (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

William Byron absolutely obliterated the competition in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. But can he carry that over to real-life NASCAR Cup Series racing?

Chances are, if you are one of the several million people who flipped your television onto Fox and saw the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, one of the few sporting series that actually consistently took place amid the coronavirus pandemic, the name “Byron” was the top name on the left side of your screen.

That is because third-year Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron dominated the first six races of the virtual racing series which NASCAR and iRacing implemented after the 2020 Cup Series season was brought to a screeching halt after the fourth race of the year at Phoenix Raceway back on Sunday, March 8.

Byron led more than half of the laps that were contested through the first six races of this seven-race series, which wrapped up at virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway last Saturday in a race that Byron did not run. He led the most laps out of anybody in the field in five of the six races that were contested.

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The 22-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native couldn’t bring home the victory in the opener at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway and then got moved out of the lead late by eventual race winner Timmy Hill at virtual Texas Motor Speedway.

But he got the monkey off of his back at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway, and he ended the series on a roll. He won three of his last four starts and shot from 34th place all the way up to second in the unofficial championship standings behind only Hill, who had just one non-top three finish and a series-best average finish of 3.57. Byron finished in fourth after missing the final race.

Byron is rare in that his prowess in iRacing is actually what allowed him to be noticed on the NASCAR scene. It is that success that allowed him to get where he is today, driving the famed #24 Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick’s team.

But despite being behind the wheel of the car made famous by four-time champion Jeff Gordon for one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport for 76 races, Byron has yet to find victory lane.

Can he carry his dominance from iRacing into the real world?

Obviously, despite the fact that it is about as close to the real thing as you can get without actually driving a stock car, iRacing isn’t real life, and the drivers who tend to have success in real life really didn’t blow anybody away in the virtual world, although a few did make improvements with additional experience over the last several weeks.

Likewise, drivers with tons of experience in iRacing, such as Byron and Hill, were the drivers to beat.

But in Byron’s case, he is well-positioned to utilize his confidence from this virtual series to break out in the real world.

He has already been close to getting his first win on several occasions, most recently with his second place finish at Martinsville Speedway last October, just one race after he had been eliminated from the playoffs in the third and final race of the round of 12 at Kansas Speedway.

From his rookie season to last year, he was one of the most improved drivers, going from 23rd to 11th place in the championship standings, four top 10 finishes to five top five finishes and 13 top 10 finishes, 61 laps led to 233 laps led and a 22.1 average finish to a 14.9 average finish.

He did get off to a rocky start in the 2020 season prior to the stoppage with just one top 10 finish, an average finish of 21.8 and a 19th place position in the championship standings.

But there is no denying that he is fast, as evidenced by his five pole positions last year, second only to Kevin Harvick, and one of these times, that sheer speed should carry over to a race win. Riding the confidence of dominating his fellow competitors in iRacing, now is the perfect time for it to happen.

Plus, Hendrick Motorsports have been fast all season. Byron’s three teammates all sits in the top five in the championship standings, and Alex Bowman won the race at Auto Club Speedway.

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Real-life NASCAR Cup Series action is scheduled to resume this afternoon at Darlington Raceway with the fifth race of the 2020 season, the The Real Heroes 400. Fox is set to broadcast this race live from the Darlington, South Carolina oval, where William Byron took the pole position last year, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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