"We really struggled at road courses" - William Byron feels this helped his team 'turn the page' heading into Indy this weekend

Ahead of this weekend's Verizon 200 at The Brickyard, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron seems to think that he has turned a page on road-course racing in the Next Gen car. The driver of the #23 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has not been able to finish in the top-ten in the NASCAR Cup Series' visit to road courses so far in the 2022 season.

The 24-year-old claims to have struggled when asked to wheel his car on the twists and turns of a road course, as was evident by his 12th and 16th place finishes at the Circuit of the Americas and Road America earlier this season. Ahead of the 200-mile-long race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, the Charlotte, North Carolina native took confidence from the Cup Series test day at Watkins Glen earlier last week.

Byron elaborated on how he and his crew have managed to take notes for every road course this season, and said:

“I feel like to start this season with the Next Gen car we really struggled at road courses, especially compared to the year before. We were able to test at Watkins Glen (International), though, and I think that really helped us start to turn the page on our road course program. We’ve been able to build that notebook with each road course so far this year. I think we have really made strides to make that package better and put all the pieces together like we need to.’’

With the Verizon 200 going live on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET, it will be interesting to see if William Byron's newfound confidence and preparation ahead of the race at The Brickyard could mean that he can challenge in the front. His competition is bound to be tough as many drivers such as A.J. Allmendinger and teammate Chase Elliott are known to be proficient on road courses.

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William Byron's crew chief gives his analysis of the damage caused by the fire in the #24 crew's hauler in Indianapolis

The #24 crew's hauler that is responsible for taking the team's racing equipment from track to track, including the car, caught fire after arriving at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this week. The cause of the fire was narrowed down to a generator that was present in the trailer.

William Byron's crew chief, Rudy Fugle, was the bearer of good news as he told Bob Pockrass about the minimal car damage caused by the fire, and said:

“Thankfully everything seems to be really good with the car, there was some rust that developed on the bare metal parts that we had to clean up and go through. For the most part, it’s pretty good.’’

Watch the complete interview below:

Watch William Byron race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. ET for the Verizon 200.