We Paint Winners
Select your sport: SPORTS

      William Byron excited to return to Windy City: ‘We can expect a completely different track and race’

      © 2024 David Rosenblum / NKP

      Grant Park 165
      Chicago Street Race
      Sunday, July 7 | 4:30 p.m. ET

      24 IN ‘24: William Byron’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season started off hot with three wins (currently tied for the most) including the DAYTONA 500. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has six top-five finishes (tied for sixth-most) and 10 top 10s (tied for third-most). He has the best average starting position (9.16) and the sixth-best average finish (13.53). After 19 races, he is seventh in the 2024 Cup Series standings with 16 playoff points.

      ROAD COURSE RINGER: In 2024, the Cup Series has competed on two road courses: Sonoma Raceway and Circuit of The Americas, where Byron dominated and captured the pole before securing the win. In the last four road races, he has two victories, one pole award, three top-two finishes and three top fives. He also has one stage win and 108 laps led with an average starting position of 5.75 and an average finish of 8.5. In 28 career Cup Series road course starts, Byron has five poles on four different layouts with two wins.

      CHI-TOWN CHAOS: Like the majority of the Cup Series field, this will be Byron’s second start at the Chicago Street Race. In last year’s inaugural event, he was forced to start at the rear of the field due to a broken toe link in practice. With heavy rain hindering the first half of the race, Byron maneuvered his way to fourth before being collected in an on-track incident. He was able to continue and finished the race 13th.

      RUDY RUNDOWN: After scoring a 13th-place finish in the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023, Rudy Fugle and the No. 24 team hope to better that result Sunday. All told, the crew chief has 30 NASCAR national series starts on road courses (20 in the Cup Series, three in the Xfinity Series and seven in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series). With his wins at Watkins Glen and COTA, Fugle is tied for fourth among active Cup crew chiefs on road courses. He also has a road victory in the truck ranks in 2015.

      © 2024 Matthew T. Thacker / NKP

      BYRON ON HIS EXPECTAITIONS FOR CHICAGO STREET RACE: “This track is still new. Last year we didn’t make a ton of laps and we definitely didn’t make a lot of laps in the dry. So this is really new for us as drivers and the teams still. I really enjoyed the challenge it brought last year and all the unknowns behind it. The rain definitely threw a wrench in things, and with the weather being clear this weekend, I think we can expect a completely different track and race. I’m excited for it.”

      FUGLE TALKS WEEKEND’S CHALLENGES: “To me the first challenge is not knowing a lot about the surface. I mean, if someone blew a transmission on the streets downtown last week, that will effect the racing surface for us. All those things are things that are way out of your control when it comes to racing on public roads. The track constantly changes and we don’t technically have a scan of it so we don’t know what bumps are going to be this time either. You’re going to hit the track ready to go fast and it’s going to be vastly different, and that’s not normal compared to the normal wear a track sees in a year. From a fuel standpoint, it’s really looking like one pit stop. And since we didn’t race much in the dry last year, we don’t know how much the tires are going to fall off. If it runs anything like road courses have in the last couple years, fuel will be more important when it comes to strategy. It will be about figuring out that fuel window, when you can short pit or when you can stay out longer based on how your race is going. Knowing it’s a one pit stop race, you would think it could be a boring race because it’s shorter, but I’ve truck raced enough to know that shorter races bring more excitement.”

      © 2024 Kyle Beckmann / NKP

      HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS

      WIN-DY CITY: Hendrick Motorsports enters Sunday’s Chicago Street Race having won three of the last four NASCAR Cup Series road course events. Of the team’s all-time record 29 road course victories, 14 have come with its current stable of drivers: Chase Elliott (seven), Kyle Larson (five) and William Byron (two). Hendrick Motorsports has won 14 of the last 28 road races on the Cup schedule (50%).

      ROAD RECORDS: On road courses, Hendrick Motorsports holds the Cup Series records with 29 wins (most by 14), 26 pole positions (most by 13), 93 top-five finishes (most by 26), 155 top 10 finishes (most by 43) and 2,353 laps led (most by 1,097).

      CRUISE BROTHERS: A Cup Series record eight different drivers have won on road courses for Hendrick Motorsports. Jeff Gordon is NASCAR’s all-time king of the road with nine victories, while Elliott leads active drivers with seven wins. Larson (five), Tim Richmond (three), Byron (two), Jimmie Johnson (one), Ricky Rudd (one) and Geoff Bodine (one) have all contributed to the organization’s total.

      MIDWEST EXPRESS: Hendrick Motorsports has 31 victories on racetracks located in the Midwest – more than any other active organization. Joe Gibbs Racing is second with 27.

      Via Hendrick Motorsports