“I’m an idiot”: William Byron left frustrated after disappointing Chicago session

William Byron, the Hendrick Motorsports star, expressed frustration after a disappointing practice session for the NASCAR Cup Series race, Grant Park 165 on Saturday, July 5. Reflecting on the incident that took him out, he called himself “an idiot”.

During the practice session at the Chicago Street Course in Chicago, Illinois, William Byron lost control of his #24, resulting in him getting loose and slamming into the outside wall. While pushing to find speed on the tight turn 9, Byron lost control and slid into a challenging situation where he couldn’t save his car from slamming into the wall.

After the session, William Byron shared his frustration and also explained the incident while speaking to truTV. He said (via NASCAR on X):

"Um, I just idiot, I'm an idiot. So, um, I, uh, no, I just took a lot of shape through there and a lot of speed obviously. And, um, I was just kind of getting my tires cleaned back off from leaving pit road. I just took a lot of shape through there and a lot of speed obviously. And, um, I was just kind of getting my tires cleaned back off from leaving pit road."

He further added:

"I just had, I just pitted. So my, my tires are probably just kind of coming up to tip again. Um, and I took it easy the first half of the lap and I was starting to push in close to the alternate start finish. And, um, yeah, just lost traction."

William Byron began his racing career and soon climbed the ranks, winning the NASCAR 2015 K&N Pro Series East Championship. He was named Rookie of the Year in the Truck Series in 2016. Byron won the NASCAR 2017 Xfinity Series Championship and was named 2018 Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series.

Now in his eighth full Cup season, the 27-year-old driver has achieved 14 career Cup wins, including the back-to-back wins in the 2024 and 2025 Daytona 500, making him one of the sport's future stars.

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William Byron gives his verdict after Denny Hamlin swept almost half the field at Atlanta

William Byron expressed his frustration after being caught in a massive multi-car wreck during the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, triggered by Denny Hamlin on a lap 69 restart last week. Byron, who had started 18th and worked his way into the top 5 early in the race, criticized the chaotic nature of the restart, saying it "just sucks" to get taken out through no fault of his own.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver said (via Bob Pockrass on X):

"It just sucks right like you're really not that worried about getting back to the front because it's a hundred lap stage and then we crash on the restart....you can be aggressive, like once you get kind of fully up to speed. I mean, obviously there's jockeying on restarts always, but just try not to crash, you know. So I don't know why we crashed the whole field like trying to get up speed. We look like a truck series or something."

He compared the incident to the kind of shenanigans typically seen in the Truck Series, lamenting that the Cup "look like Truck Series" due to the reckless racing and bunching up on restarts.