When the dust settled in Sunday's Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Carson Hocevar was a first-time Cup Series winner in his 91st career start, becoming the 208th driver all-time to win a race at the sport's highest level.
While Hocevar took his time enjoying the moment with an epic victory burnout and celebration after his cooldown lap, one driver who left the track on the opposite end of the spectrum was William Byron, one of 26 drivers collected in the lap 115 "Big One", as the current superspeedway package once again failed to deliver an exciting race from start to finish.
Racing at Talladega has always been known for its unexpected nature, with big crashes that can wipe the majority of the field out like we saw on Sunday. With that being said, a 35th place finish there does not tell the entire story for Byron, who is off to an uncharacteristic start to the season and is still looking to establish some consistency at the front that we have come to expect from him.
William Byron trying to put rough stretch of races behind him at Texas
Aside from a season-high 26 laps led and third place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Byron has been relatively quiet all season. That is not entirely a knock on him alone, considering the struggles from the Hendrick Motorsports, specifically at Phoenix Raceway and Darlington Raceway. While Kyle Larson finished third at Phoenix, none of the team's drivers finished higher than ninth in either stage, and Byron was the best of the bunch at Darlington in eighth.
Byron was solid at Martinsville, as expected, with a fifth place finish and a solid 47-point haul. Bristol Motor Speedway, however, presented a much different result. Even though a win was likely never on the cards there with zero career laps led at the track entering the race, he qualified 34th and finished 30th, five laps down, as he struggled to find a balance that he could work with throughout all 505 laps.
A seventh place finish at Kansas looks good on paper, but Byron was never a factor for the win and benefited from the race's only caution for incident with two laps to go. Crew chief Rudy Fugle put him on offense with four fresh tires, and Byron salvaged a top 10 from the day.
Talladega did not nothing to help turn things around and has Byron in an unusual position after 10 races. Just one year ago, he had a win (Daytona 500) and seven top six finishes at this point in the season, and he had more laps at Phoenix (83) and Darlington (243) alone than he has all of this season so far. He went on to advance to his third straight Championship 4.
But as a result of his inconsistency this year, Byron is currently 11th in the standings, a distant 207 points behind Tyler Reddick just one season after winning the regular season championship.
As bad as it seems, NASCAR Insights notes that Byron has third-best average finish among Chevrolet drivers this season (14.8), only behind teammate Chase Elliott (9.7) and Hocevar (14.0).
Best average finish by manufacturer though 10 races of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season pic.twitter.com/ZiI9CvnRk5
— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) April 28, 2026
Sunday's Wurth 400 at 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway could not come at a better time for Byron if he wants to get his season going in the right direction.
In 11 starts there, Byron has a win (2023), six top 10 finishes, and an 11.4 average finish. He has led laps in three of the four most recent races at the Lone Star State facility and scored points in six of the eight stages during that span.
For all that has been made about the manufacturer's struggles, it is not like Chevrolet has been horrible this season, either. Kyle Larson is second only to Denny Hamlin in laps led (499), while Elliott (Martinsville) and Hocevar (Talladega) have reached victory lane. Elliott is even second in points behind Reddick when you exclude stage results.
That should at least present some optimism for Byron, with a strong stretch of tracks ahead of him starting this weekend.
As the season progresses and Byron presumably gets a better handle on his No. 24 Chevrolet, the results should start to take care of themselves. With 16 career wins to his credit, including multiple victories in four straight seasons, it seems likely only a matter of time until he puts this uncharacteristic start to the 2026 season behind him.
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