William Byron talks about Bristol’s “football stadium-like atmosphere” ahead of first NASCAR playoff elimination race

With the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway just around the corner, William Byron opened up about what makes the 0.533-mile track stand out. He compared it to a football stadium, saying the unique atmosphere gives him a boost of adrenaline unlike anywhere else on the schedule.

Bristol Motor Speedway, known as The Last Great Colosseum, first welcomed NASCAR in 1961 and has since showcased a variety of formats, from its famous night race to dirt-track events. Most recently, it made history by hosting a regular-season MLB matchup between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds—the first of its kind in the sport’s history.

Speaking about the racetrack, William Byron, driver of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, said (via NASCAR's Instagram channel):

“It's cool. I think it's just a really unique place... kind of has that football stadium atmosphere, which is rare for us, I feel like. So it just kind of gives you that little bit more adrenaline boost before the race than some of the places that are more spread out, like if you were to go to Pocono or something. It's a little bit... the fans are really distant from you.”

He added:

“So I would say just a much different feel here, like more of a stadium feel than other places were go.”

Source: @NASCAR on Instagram

William Byron, who won the 2025 regular-season championship, enters the Bristol night race with a 39-point cushion in sixth. Four drivers will be eliminated, with Austin Dillon (-11), Shane van Gisbergen (-15), Alex Bowman (-35), and Josh Berry (-45) currently sitting below the cutline.

The Bristol night race will kick off on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET. HMS teammate Kyle Larson is defending race winner after dominating last year's edition by leading 462 of 500 laps and sweeping all stages.

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“I don't really want to talk about it anymore”: William Byron on HMS' underwhelming playoff opener at Darlington

William Byron admitted he didn’t want to dwell on Hendrick Motorsports’ results in the Cup Series playoff opener at Darlington Raceway. He pointed to bad pit stops as one of the key reasons behind the team’s disappointing start to the postseason.

The 27-year-old North Carolina native said (via Frontstretch):

"I've talked about it a lot. I don't really want to talk about it anymore, but I feel like, you know, the first half, we probably were just kind of in a good track position spot. And then we had some bad, you know, bad pit stops, honestly, and got back towards the back, and then we just couldn't really recover.”

Byron’s race at Darlington ended with a 21st-place finish after starting 11th. Chase Elliott led the HMS camp with a 17th-place run, while Kyle Larson followed in 19th. Alex Bowman, meanwhile, only managed a 31st-place finish.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe won the Cook Out Southern 500 to punch his ticket to the Round of 12. Tyler Reddick finished in second ahead of Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and AJ Allmendinger.