“Sometimes it feels appropriate to say”: William Byron’s crew chief stands firm on his ‘embarrassing’ HMS remark

The Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway wasn’t a great race for William Byron and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Chase Elliott, who ended up 17th, had the best finish in the HMS camp, with Kyle Larson settling for P19, Byron for P21, and Alex Bowman for P32.

Upon crossing the finish line, William Byron’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, had a message for the entire No. 24 team. Taking to the team radio, Fugle said (as quoted by Motorsport),

“We're embarrassed. We've got to execute a lot better all around. Nothing comfortable. We didn't do shit today. We've got to improve and get better and race our ass off every week or it's going to be a long offseason.”

Days after the race, Fugle still stands by his crude comments. He knows he has an amazing team but wants to use the word “embarrassing” as a wake-up call for the No. 24 team.

“I don't have to tell these guys that but sometimes it feels appropriate to say it,” Fugle said in a statement. “I want everyone at the track and at the shop to know that we can all dig together and that there is no one else I want to go fix it with than everyone at Hendrick Motorsports.”

"We've been down these roads before and it's all part of it. Unfortunately, the 48 team is back there (in points) a little bit with their issue on pit road and not being able to rebound the way they needed," he added.

Byron is now ahead of the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Scheduled for this coming Sunday, September 7, the event will mark the second race of the Round of 16. Fans can watch it on USA (3 pm ET) or listen to exclusive radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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William Byron gets his feelings straight while responding to his crew chief’s “embarrassed” comments

William Byron agreed with his crew chief, Rudy Fugle, on the latter’s comments about the No. 24 team’s below-par start to their NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Recently crowned the Regular Season champion, Byron entered the race with hopes of winning but was left with his third consecutive finish of 19th or worse.

So when Fugle said that the team was embarrassed by their performance at Darlington, Byron agreed.

“Yeah, 10-4. That was terrible,” the driver said.

Today, William Byron ranks sixth in the driver standings with 2049 points to his name. 27 races into the season, the two-time Daytona 500 winner has two wins, nine top-fives, and 13 top-10s. He has led 915 laps so far with an average finish of 14.148.

Byron will enter next weekend’s race at Gateway with a 25-point cushion above the cutoff line. As things stand, Alex Bowman is the only one from the HMS camp who is below the cutline with a 19-point deficit.