Daytona 500 champion Willaim Byron reveals that he suffers from a ‘bit of imposter syndrome’

William Byron established himself as a driver to beat at HMS in the Next-Gen era.

Daytona 500 champion Willaim Byron reveals that he suffers from a ‘bit of imposter syndrome’

William Byron, Rick Hendrick and Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)

William Byron established himself as the guy to beat in the Cup series last season with his impressive six-cup race-winning year.  He, unfortunately, finished P3 in the championship after failing to match the clutch form of Ryan Blaney. But he has already redeemed himself by winning the 2024 season opener Daytona 500, surviving multiple wrecks.

The racing community has often overlooked Byron’s talents till the last season, as his championship-winning teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson‘s charisma was too much to match for him. He was always the other guy at HMS, and his “corporate-like” personality of Byron also didn’t help, as personality traits are a major factor in building a fandom.  

YouTube video

While talking about the same after the Daytona 500 win recently, he admitted that he often had a little imposter syndrome. He pointed out that he went through crazy emotions for the three years he raced with his idol Jimmie Johnson at HMS as it was surreal. Byron had to work himself to get himself ready for the premier tier challenge and fix his goals with the team over the years.

FS Video
I feel like I’ve always had a bit of imposter syndrome because I race against Jimmie Johnson like this guy was my hero. Literally every Sunday I had his diecast cars in my room and just dreamed about what it would be like to be in his shoes and now I get to race against him. It’s a pretty crazy emotion to go through, just getting into the Cup Series, just honestly being happy to be there, and then figuring out, ‘OK, well, what are my goals? What are the things I want to accomplish?
Byron said, as reported by AP.

The same feeling helped William Byron get better

Byron’s path to the NASCAR Cup series was unique as he didn’t take the traditional route of karting and midget racing to get where he is now. His impressive runs in the sim-racing scene attracted interest from the race team, and his prowess there helped him land a racing seat in the lower division and eventually climb the ladder to the top

William Byron
William Byron at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Via IMAGO)

Byron revealed that the fear of losing the opportunity to race every weekend on the premier stock racing series made him work more, and it fuelled his efforts. Byron is the definition of making even the weakness into strength.

I feel like I’ve always had a bit of kind of work through fear because of fear, and I feel like that’s fueled me because I never want to lose the opportunity to race in the Cup Series and have a shot at winning races with the team I’m with.
Byron said.                                                    

Discover: