William Byron Admits the No:24 Has Been “Below Average” in 2026
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron has shared his thoughts on the tough start to the 2026 season he had amidst Tyler Reddick dominance.
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William Byron (Via IMAGO)
The start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series so far has been marked with the domination of Tyler Reddick, who won the first three races of the season. At the same time the racers such as Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell, knowns for consistent start to the season hasn’t delivered yet.
William Byron, who finished P12, P28 and P13 in the first three events shared his thoughts on the tough start he had to the new season. He finds it frustrating that the team has filed gain more points so far. One of the major reasons for the major points drop was his crash at Atlanta that took him out early from the race.
To answer your question on where we stand, I think what’s frustrating for us is feeling like we’ve given up a few points the last couple weeks. You know, I crashed the week before at Atlanta. We had some damage, and then I crashed, and so that gave away a handful. And then last week, I felt like we gave away a handful at the end there in the last run.
William Byron said ahead of Phoenix Cup race.
Furthermore, the No:24 Chevy driver asserted that compared to last season where they had a soldi start, the 2026 season hasn’t been good enough. William Byron admitted that scoring on average of 25 points per race instead of the 35-40 he should be securing, makes the season so far below average for the team.
I just feel like those sting a little more than they used to probably … Our goal last year was to win the regular season championship, and we got off to a good start and made that a little bit easier. But, yeah, we’ve just been kind of middle of the road right now. We’ve scored 25-26 points on average. We’d like to score, you know, 35 to 40 on average. So definitely below average right now, but I think we’re going to see what we have this weekend, that’s for sure.
William Byron asserted via motorsport.com.
William Byron address the massive advantage Tyler Reddick has on him in the championship battle
In the same conversation later, the HMS star racer talked about the massive advantage Tyler Reddick has on him in the championship table. The No:45 team has a two race win worth points advantage on the No:24 team. This gives the TRD side more leeway to make mistakes in the regular ovals unlike the rest of the garage.
Yeah, I mean look — they’ve hit a home run on two drafting tracks. To score the points that they did is phenomenal. If you start the year and you say, man, if we could score 40 to 50 points on drafting tracks, that’s going to be a huge advantage.
William Byron said.
The two times Daytona 500 champion is impressed with what Tyler Reddick has done in the three previous races and admits they have a better momentum on their side that his crew. But that doesn’t discourage him, as he is focussed on the No:24 team ana getting them back on victory lane as soon as possible.
So, they’ve accumulated a big advantage in those drafting tracks. And then COTA, I don’t think was any surprise to me that Tyler ran so well. But they executed really well, and that momentum was big. So, I think for us on the 24 team, it’s not really about looking at anyone else. It’s looking at ourselves. If we get to race 26 and that gap is still there, then shoot, you know, wish we could have had a couple things back.
William Byron added.
In order to win the championship under the new format, Byron needs to get back winning form soon and should start hitting the average 35 points per race target from this weekend at Phoenix. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the racer in the 2026 season.
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