Byron to ‘shoot for the stars’ at Richmond and Martinsville

Byron, who drives the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, grew to become the sequence’ first repeat winner of the season together with his dominating win final weekend at Circuit of the Americas.

Along with his victory within the season-opening Daytona 500, Byron already has a leg up on his competitors however this weekend’s race at Richmond, Va., and the next week at Martinsville, Va., might greatest reveal the endurance of Byron and his No. 24 group.

Byron gained a career-best six races in 2023 and superior to the Championship 4 at Phoenix for the primary time. But when there was one weak point in his season, it was on brief tracks, notably Richmond and Martinsville.

“The subsequent two are circled big-time,” Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle mentioned following final Sunday’s win at COTA. “We talked about it. There’s several types of wins.

“We’re going to shoot for the celebs however get a win out of the following two weeks. We have now not been good at Richmond. We have now not been good at Martinsville. We should be. Immediately.

“That’s all we’re centered on proper now.”

Within the 4 races at Richmond and Martinsville final 12 months, Byron’s greatest end was thirteenth – within the fall at Martinsville. Whereas not a win, it was a robust sufficient efficiency to assist him advance to the Championship 4.

In a mixed 23 profession begins between the 2 tracks, Byron has one win (at Martinsville in 2022), 5 top-five and eight top-10 finishes.

Richmond, particularly, has been a wrestle with a mean end of 15.9 and simply two top-10 finishes.

Sunday night time’s race at Richmond will present a number of challenges. It is going to be the primary time on the monitor with NASCAR’s new brief monitor aero package deal and the primary time the Subsequent Gen automobiles have run on the monitor in an evening race.

What to anticipate

“I imply, we haven’t raced at night time there with Subsequent Gen in any respect,” Fugle mentioned when requested about what he expects on this weekend’s race. “I don’t know. I actually don’t.

“The tire put on goes to be – and the falloff – goes to be excessive. Not as a lot as a summer time race at 3 p.m., for certain. However we’re nonetheless going to be sliding round, have some superior technique conditions, two-stop and three-stop in levels and all of that.

“That is what we’re anticipating. We simply hope to have a automotive to compete adequate to creating these calls that matter.”

Nonetheless, with the best way the 12 months has began, there’s little motive to assume Byron gained’t be within the combine to make it back-to-back wins in consecutive weeks.

“I really feel prefer it type of ebbs and flows. We’re on a great movement proper now in some methods (like) within the win class,” Byron, 26, mentioned. “I’d like to complete higher on the off days, too. I’m engaged on that each week.

“I’m nonetheless attempting to take a look at these days and the way I can enhance, like final week (at Bristol). However I really feel just like the ups are up proper now. We simply acquired to maintain it going.”