Whereas Byron has been a favourite to win the title a lot of the season and he and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports staff have led the collection with six wins.
Byron’s playoff level benefit gathered all year long helped him survive a subpar race final weekend at Martinsville that put him again on equal footing together with his three fellow championship contenders this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Whereas there may be actually strain to win his first collection title, the 25-year-old approaches Sunday’s race believing the toughest half could also be over.
Picture by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, PODS Chevrolet Camaro
“We have been (nervous), little doubt. We put collectively such yr. To make all of it the best way to Martinsville and really feel like your likelihood is slipping away was positively type of demoralizing, miserable,” Byron mentioned Thursday at Championship 4 Media Day.
“If we hadn’t made it, I feel it could have been quite a lot of disappointment. I feel that’s the place the strain got here from. For us to win a championship can be simply icing on the cake. You bought a 1 in 4 likelihood.
“Now, we’ve a brand new life for our staff. That is what our objective was, to make the Championship 4. I feel any staff would say that. Now, we really feel like, I imply, we’ve nothing to lose.”
For Byron and Ryan Blaney, Sunday’s race is their first likelihood at a Cup championship. Christopher Bell made the Championship 4 final season whereas Larson received in 2021 in his solely earlier look.
At 25, Byron can be the fourth-youngest Cup Collection champion in historical past and would cap off a breakout season for the native of Charlotte, N.C. Along with his six wins, he leads the collection in top-10 finishes and was the No. 1 seed when the playoffs kicked off in September.
With Larson the oldest of the Championship 4 drivers at 31, it’s fairly potential their collective NASCAR journey might see them face off for the collection title a number of occasions within the years forward.
“It’s type of humorous as a result of after I got here into the Cup Collection it was the previous versus new, and the previous guys dominated with (Kevin) Harvick and Jimmie (Johnson). These guys have been dominating races, and Truex,” mentioned Byron.”
“It was type of a joke that NASCAR promoted us a lot. Individuals have been laughing at it. We’re right here now. It’s cool. It’s all the fellows I grew up racing in opposition to. I feel all these guys are going to win a number of races a yr for the subsequent few years.”
Proper now, Byron doesn’t intend to waste his first alternative so as to add himself to the record of drivers who’ve bested the remainder in NASCAR’s elite stage.
“I feel these are alternatives you get that you just sit up for. Man, I wish to get a primary championship. That might be superior. I wish to try this,” he mentioned.
“I’m taking a look at what I did in Xfinity after I raced within the closing 4, type of dug deep and located one thing to win that one. I’ll be excited.”
