Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon has praised William Byron for his triumphant run on the asphalt of Circuit of the Americas.
The 26-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver, who fields the #24 Chevrolet, came home with yet another victory at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. After leading 42 laps in the 68-lap race, the North Carolina native, who's observing his seventh year as an HMS driver, etched his name as the race winner.
With his victory on the 3.426-mile road course circuit, William Byron's tally of triumphs this season stands at two after he sealed his maiden win at the 2024 Daytona 500 race. Byron has two wins, two top-5s, and three top-10s, and currently sits at P10 in drivers rankings.
The #24 Chevy was seen dominating the tracks by the crew and fans alike, and Byron's flawless dash during the 68-lap race has garnered immense praise from his team's Vice Chariman-Jeff Gordon. Following the 26-year-old's victorious run, the 52-year-old NASCAR Hall of Famer said (via Sirius XM NASCAR Radio on X account):
"There were some challenges thrown their way with some of the strategies that got mixed up. Those guys were solid on pit road, William, he just never made a wrong move and obviously had a good race car."
Gordon added:
"When [Christopher] Bell was running him down, lot of pressure, so just love to see how they held it together and accomplished the win."
William Byron unfurls his thought process about taming a road course as he reflects on his COTA win
During Saturday's time-testing session, William Byron set the quickest speed of 94.696 mph, securing the pole position on the grid. After dominating 42 laps at the 3.426-mile track, Byron became the first Cup Series driver of the season to win two races. Furthermore, the HMS driver has twelve victories in his arsenal of Cup Series wins.
The odds of securing the highly coveted went slightly off track when, with 25 laps until the checkered flag dropped, Byron pitted, and Ross Chastain took charge of the field. Nevertheless, the 2024 Daytona 500 winner rallied back, claiming the top spot by a whisker margin of 0.692 seconds over the runner-up, Christopher Bell. Chastain finished P7.
Unlike the ovals where the walls are right beside the asphalt at all times, the road courses have a different setup, which sometimes comes at the cost of confidence and control. Speaking of confidence, William Byron detailed how he gels into the race setup despite not being the most bold one, saying (via Rob Tiongson's X account):
"I don't know if I'm the most confident one, but when I show up I feel like just focus on the details that it takes [to win the race]. Once I kind of find that rhythm and cadence of doing the shifting the braking and you just start to fall into that."
