Hendrick star William Byron optimistic after top-3 finish at New Hampshire

NASCAR posted a video on X showing William Byron reacting to his third-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In the clip Byron reflected on the performance put up by the team after ending his five-race stretch without a top-10 result.

The video was uploaded by NASCAR’s official X account. The caption read,

"Things are beginning to point up for the No. 24 team. @WilliamByron (P3) ends a five."

In the video, William Byron called the result “a good day overall” and explained how his Hendrick Motorsports team has been working to improve at short tracks. He admitted,

"Yeah, it was a good day. I mean it was a good day overall. I felt like a lot of things that we’ve kind of been building on, on the short tracks, we’re working for it." "I think this place is tricky, I think the other series have been good, but this place in the cup car has been difficult for us. So yeah, just tryna build little bits here and there."

William Byron came into Sunday’s Round of 12 race with little expectation of a breakout run at New Hampshire. In eight previous starts at the track, his best finish had been 11th, and his last two results there were 24th and 26th.

The third-place finish was his first career top-five at the “Magic Mile” and his first top-10 at the venue. Starting fifth, Byron kept his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet inside the top five for most of the afternoon.

The 27-year-old finished third in both Stage 1 and Stage 2, winning stage points that boosted his overall playoff tally. By the end of the day, he was second in the playoff standings, 47 points above the cutline, trailing only Ryan Blaney.

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William Byron approaches New Hampshire with steady strategy in the playoff fight

William Byron started the Round of 12 steady; the regular season champion had gone five straight races without a top-10 finish before Loudon and entered New Hampshire as the only playoff driver without a top-10 career result at the track.

Despite this, Byron sat 24 points above the elimination line before the race, a margin large enough to work with but not safe enough to relax. His first-round finishes, 21st at Darlington, 11th at Gateway, and 12th at Bristol kept him in the running but did not maintain the form of a title favorite. Speaking to Bob Pockrass, Byron said,

“It’s kind of a marathon, within itself. Like there’s so many steps to this deal. So, the way this format is you just have to keep advancing and just hopefully you’re at your best when it counts.”

That approach carried into New Hampshire. Byron led Saturday’s practice board with a speed of 127.834 mph. He followed it with a strong qualifying lap at 29.373 seconds, good enough for fifth on the grid.

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Edited by Tushhita Barua