NASCAR: 3 drivers who should already start to panic

NASCAR drivers who not quite in panic mode: William Byron

I wouldn’t blame anyone for putting William Byron in a category with these other three drivers, given his abysmal start to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. He crashed out of the Daytona 500 and only managed to finish in 25th place in the race at Auto Club Speedway, miring him down in 29th in the standings.

But Byron is accustomed to slow starts. Of his six Daytona 500 efforts, his best result is a 21st place DNF, and he has never finished higher than 17th in a season’s second race. In fact, he hasn’t finished higher than 22nd in any one of a season’s first two races since 2019.

Yet he has managed to qualify for the playoffs in four straight seasons, three times with at least one regular season win.

Byron responded to his slow two-race start in 2021 with 11 straight top nine finishes, including a win. He responded to his slow two-race start in 2022 with two wins and two other top five finishes in the next six races.

While he had a rough stretch during the middle of last season, going 18 races with a top finish of ninth place, he rebounded in the playoffs with six top eight finishes in 10 races and no finishes lower than 16th, which resulted in him finishing in a career-best sixth in the standings.

And the last time I checked, he is still driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, and Rick Hendrick’s team is still widely considered the team to beat in the Cup Series.