William Byron capped off a day that started strong by notching a fourth-place run in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 14.
The 2024 Daytona 500 champion from Charlotte, North Carolina, who featured the bold red and black RAPTOR High Heat scheme on his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the first time since Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, commenced the weekend on a strong note by posting his best qualifying lap at 169.661 mph in 53.047 seconds. The qualifying run was enough for him to start in second place as he shared the front row with fellow Charlotte competitor Ty Gibbs.
When the green flag waved, Byron made an early bid for the lead as he dueled with Gibbs during the opening lap. After being edged by Gibbs to lead the first lap, Byron would settle in second before he would be intimidated by Gibbs’ teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin for more. Byron, who would remain on the track following the event’s first caution period on Lap 14 along with a majority of the front-runners, would proceed to settle in fourth place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 30. Despite restarting outside the top 20 due to pitting during the first stage’s break period, Byron would methodically carve his way back to the front and finish in fourth place for a second time of the day as the second stage period concluded on Lap 95.
Restarting in 15th place as the final stage period commenced with 60 laps remaining, Byron would manage through a total of four caution periods and restarts, including the latest one with 23 laps remaining, to steer the No. 24 Chevrolet to a fourth-place result in the final running order. The result came as Byron prevailed in a late multi-car battle for the fourth spot that included Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.
Byron’s fourth-place finish at Pocono marked his seventh top-five result through 21-scheduled starts of the 2024 season, his first at Pocono since finishing in third place in 2021 and his first since finishing in the runner-up spot at Iowa Speedway four races ago. It also came a day after he finished in third place while driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry during Saturday’s Xfinity Series event. Combined with his fourth-place finish and the stage points he accumulated, Byron swapped spots with Truex in the 2024 regular-season standings as he is ranked in fifth place while trailing points leader and teammate Chase Elliott by 57 points. Byron along with the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team led by crew chief Ryan “Rudy” Fugle are already guaranteed a spot in the 2024 Playoffs based on winning the Daytona 500, Circuit of the Americas and Martinsville Speedway earlier this season between February and April.
The result left the Charlotte native pleased despite being mired with four results of 15th or worse over his previous seven starts but striving to gain more ground before the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs commence in early September.
“This is definitely a really good result,” Byron said on USA Network. “We just kind of executed our way through the race. Not everything went our way, but for the most part, we did a good job with the circ*mstances and the restarts and everything. Just really proud of the effort. Our team did a great job. The RAPTOR Chevrolet was decent all day. Certainly good to get a fourth place and just, hopefully, work on the things that we need to work on going to Indianapolis, which is somewhat [a] similar track [to Pocono]. Looking forward to that. Just two good weeks, two good finishes in a row, so proud of that.”
With Pocono in the rearview mirror, Byron will attempt to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400 in what will be his eighth Cup start at the famed venue located near Downtown Indianapolis next weekend. Byron’s current best result at Indianapolis is fourth, which occurred in 2019. He achieved his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Indianapolis in July 2017 when he fended off former Brickyard 400 champion Paul Menard to win in what would be his first motorsports start at Indy.
Having won the 2024 Daytona 500 in car No. 24, Byron approaches Indianapolis with a unique goal of keeping the No. 24 victorious at Indianapolis in years that end with the number 4. Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, piloted the No. 24 car to victory during the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 before he would win his fourth in 2004 and his record-setting fifth in 2014.
Should Byron win this year’s Brickyard 400, he would become the first competitor to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season since Jamie McMurray made the last accomplishment in 2010. McMurray along with Cup Series champions Dale Jarrett and Jimmie Johnson are the only competitors to win both crown-jewel events in the same season.
William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule continues with the return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, July 21, and air at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
