For a third year in a row, Team Penske’s Cup Series domination remained unchallenged. Given the current dynamics of the Next-Gen racing, if there was one team that would stop the Penske drivers in their tracks, it was Hendrick Motorsports. By and large, Kyle Larson looked to be the lead driver leading that charge, but by the time championship weekend arrived, it was William Byron and the #24 team, the only entry from HMS, going head-to-head against Penske superiority.
Now we all know that Joey Logano clinched his third championship at Phoenix, and his teammate Ryan Blaney finished in a close second. Meanwhile, Byron ended the race third, which was a bitter pill to swallow for the entire #24 team. Especially the crew chief, Rudy Fugle, who had poured his heart and soul into a bid to bring back the Bill France trophy to HMS. Usually, the drivers are emotional and wound up after a disappointing end to their title contention. But the roles were reversed in this case, even though Fugle certainly had a good reason to be livid after losing out on a golden opportunity.
Rudy Fugle wanted to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship badly
ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad
Byron and Fugle have been working together for the past four seasons. Slowly and steadily they have grown from race-winning team to championship contenders in the last few years. The 2023 season in particular was a huge turnaround for the #24 team as they registered six race wins and an entry into the championship 4.
Well, the only way to go up from here was to bring the championship trophy back at Hendrick Motorsports. William Byron started off the season with a Daytona 500 win, and he was the one who led the 40th anniversary celebration at Martinsville with another win. But all three of his race wins came early in the season and he had to grind it hard to reach the final race. Now there was an element of controversy with how he snuck into the last position during the fall race at Martinsville, but Byron redeemed himself by leveling his last year’s run.
But Fugle wasn’t content with the outcome of the season as he saw this as a perfect opportunity to claim the top and raise in stature with HMS. With the #5 and #9 teams out of the picture, this was the chance the #24 team was looking for, but they fell short against the Penske drivers. Byron was asked about his crew chief’s livid reaction in the aftermath of the Phoenix race during the NASCAR Awards. And going by his response, everything is good between them.
“All of our postseason meetings and talks about Phoenix are in a great spot, and we’re ready to go next year. So we have a lot of goals to achieve next year and I feel like he’s in a good place. But yeah, emotions are raw right after the race and sometimes in the car, it’s a little bit different picture than what they see. So yeah, I think it was just kind of real for him.” Byron was quoted saying this on NASCAR’s website.
He also shared his honest take on making major improvements next year after hitting a dry patch with his win at Martinsville. “We’ve got a lot of room to improve there. I thought our potential was a little bit better this year compared to last year, honestly, but yeah, we just need to keep working on those tracks and then just lead more laps, and I think there’s a few different ways you do that. So we were really good down the stretch. I mean, the last seven weeks, all top six. So I think that was really, really strong and hard to do, so just need to work on a couple of little things.”
Moreover, the North Carolina native has also identified the racetracks where he wants to win in 2025.
ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad
Byron is hoping to add more crown jewel wins to his name
Trending
After being crowned the winner of “The Great American Race,” William Byron’s appetite for success has increased. Out of the four crown jewel races, he bagged one to his name and is eager to add the iconic race wins under his belt during the 2025 season. He came within touching distance of clinching a home win at the Coca-Cola 600; he finished runner-up in 2023 and had to settle for P3 in a rain-affected race this year.
Not only that, he’s also looking to follow his teammate Kyle Larson and hoping to emerge victorious at the Brickyard 400. “I mean, I think a lot of people asked me that throughout the spring and the summer, and I didn’t really know how to answer, because I was still trying to achieve the championship and everything like that, just week to week. So yeah, I’ve reflected on it a little bit more now, and it’s awesome for our team. It’s a huge accomplishment, and hopefully we can get more of those crown-jewel wins. That would be my goal,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENT Article continues below this ad
Well, he is on the cusp of creating history if he repeats his Daytona 500 triumph in 2025. Denny Hamlin is the last driver to go for back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 2019-20, and Byron could be the next driver to do the same next year.