FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Byron became interested in racing when he was six years old after seeing a stock car race on television, later attending a race at Martinsville Speedway in 2006. He is not related to NASCAR's first champion Red Byron. He began racing on the iRacing online computer simulator as a teenager, with over 100 wins and 298 top fives in online competition. In 2012, he and his father explored how Byron could start racing offline – in real cars. He started racing Legends that year at the age of 15, relatively late for modern drivers. That year he won 33 races and became the Legend Car Young Lions Division champion. For 2014, Byron signed with JR Motorsports late model program, in addition to continuing Legends competition. Byron competed in the #9 Liberty University Chevy at Hickory Motor

Speedway in North Carolina for JRM. Byron was signed to drive in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for 2015 by HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks, with sponsorship from Liberty University. Byron also continued racing late models for JR Motorsports. In his debut K&N East in February at New Smyrna Speedway, Byron finished 7th. Byron won the second race of the season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway after starting second and leading all 152 laps (two laps past the scheduled distance). Byron made his ARCA Racing Series debut at Lucas Oil Raceway in July, driving the No. 55 Liberty University Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. Byron finished second after leading 120 laps. He scored four K&N East wins in route to

winning the series championship. On October 29, 2015, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that Byron would run a full-time schedule in the team's #9 Toyota Tundra in the Truck Series during the 2016 season. To prepare him for the run, KBM fielded the #9 for him in the 2015 Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. Byron started the 2016 season on a low note crashing on the final lap at Daytona to finish 13th, and finishing 32nd at Atlanta after blowing an engine. Later, Byron would get his first top 3, 5, and 10 in the Truck Series after finishing a strong 3rd at Martinsville. Byron won his first Truck Series race at Kansas in May, after avoiding Ben Rhodes and Johnny Sauter's crash on the last lap of the race, and took his

second race win in Texas in June. He won the next race at Iowa, finished 17th at Gateway due to a crash, and won yet again at Kentucky, propelling him to first in points. He followed that up with his fifth win of the season at Pocono Raceway, breaking the Truck Series record for most wins by a rookie. The previous mark was held by Kurt Busch during the 2000 season with four wins. He won the first race of the Round of 8 at New Hampshire, but suffered an engine failure at the last race of the Round of 6 at Phoenix, which cost him the chance to join the Championship four. With a win at the final race at Homestead, he placed fifth in the overall standings, with a total seven wins and eleven Top 5s, and 16 top 10s in 23 races. William also won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. Despite not being in contention for the driver's championship, William's team

Kyle Busch Motorsports still collected the owner's title for team #9. Byron also would claim the Rookie of the Year Award in the Truck Series. On August 18, 2016, Byron and Hendrick Motorsports announced they had signed a multi-year driver agreement, with Byron running full-time in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in 2017. Byron would pick up in the Xfinity series; just as he had finished in the Truck Series. It took a while for him to get rolling; posting only two Top 5 finishes in the first 12 races' but it was a fairly steep learning curve from Trucks to Xfinity. In race #13 (Michigan) Byron would post a second place finish; and then go on to win the next race (Iowa) and also the following race (Daytona). He

would go on to win three weeks later at Indianapolis. He qualified for the Chase with his win, and as the season wound down he would finish no worse than fourth in four of the final six races. He won at Phoenix and at the season finale' at Homestead he finished third; the best of the four drivers who qualified for the Chase. Two of his JR Motorsports teams mates also qualified for the final round as Elliott Sadler finished 8th and Justin Allgaier 12th. (Second and third in the points). Once again Byron won Rookie of the Year Honors. During the 2017 season Hendrick Motor Sports had announced they were releasing Kasey Kahne from his contract in 2018. So once again Byron will have a steep learning curve as he moves into the Cup ranks after just one season in the Xfinity Series. Byron switched from the #9 car to the #24 car for 2018 and would compete for Rookie of the Year. The #24 was a proven competitive team the previous season; so there was no disputing Byron had a disappointing season; even though he did win Rookie of the Year honors. The 2017

Xfinity Champion found the competition much tougher than he had faced before, as he was only able to post four Top 10 finishes. Three of those did however come in the second half of the season as he found his footing and began to show progress. Rick Hendrick Motorsports decided a change of crew chiefs was in order for 2019. He broke up the super team of Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson. Knaus became the new crew chief for Byron in 2019. The pairing with Knaus produced some improvement; but no wins. They kicked off the season winning the pole for the Daytona 500; and added another at the Coke 600 and then at Pocono. Race results left something to be desired however as Byron was only able to

post one finish inside the Top 10 during the first ten races. He did manage a second place finish at Daytona in July and managed to make the Chase via points. He was eliminated from the Chase after the second round and eventually ended up in eleventh in points. Byron and Knaus gave another go in 2020 hoping for better results; still searching for that first win. Byron's season got off to a slow start. The first ten races he only had one finish better then tenth. For the season most of his finishes were between 10th and 15th; but he managed to pull off a

surprise win at Daytona; the final race before the Chase started; which advanced him into the Chase. But his mediocre finishes knocked him out after the first round. For the season he had the one win; and added only four Top 5s and 14 Top 10s. For 2021 his crew chief Chad Knaus would be moving to assume the role of Vice President of Competition for HMS. Byron's new crew chief will be Rudy Fugle. 2021 saw Byron grab a win early in the year as he won at Homestead. Unfortunately that was his lone win. That’s not to say that he didn’t run well. He had

three second place finishes; and 12 Top 5 and 20 Top 10 results. But in the Chase, he was knocked out after the second Round; and finished tenth in the points. 2022 saw him get two wins, but the rest of his results were worse than 2021. From having 12 top fives in 2021; he fell to just five. After 20 top tens in 2021, he had just 11 in 2022. When the Chase started he seemed to flip a switch and suddenly posting good finishes. The first round he had a worst finish of eighth. In the Round of 12, he finished no worse than 16th, which was good enough to advance to the Round of 8. In that round he finished 13th at Las Vegas; and then 12th at Homestead. A seventh place at Martinsville wasn’t good enough to have him make the final race for the Championship. He ended up sixth in the season points. Byron had a busy season driving for HMS in

2023; racing in all three of the premier NASCAR series. He was the most successful of the HMS drivers grabbing six wins on the season. He started off on a low note; crashing out of the Daytona 500 near the end and finishing 34th. It didn’t take him long to recover however; as he claimed his first win in the third race of the season at Las Vegas. He proved that was no fluke winning again the next week at Phoenix. He made strong runs week after week, and found himself in victory lane again at Darlington and also almost pulled off a win the next week in the Coke 600 where he finished second. At Atlanta he won again, beating Daniel

Suarez. He won on the road course at Watkins Glen as the regular season was winding down. He performed well in the Chase advancing through each round. He got his sixth win when NASCAR visited Texas, and locked himself into the Round of Eight. After his win at Texas; he finished second the following two races at Talladega and Charlotte on the Roval. In the Round of Eight he was strong; finishing seventh and fourth go advance to the Championship race at Phoenix. He had a stout car that weekend, and started from the pole. He led 95 laps and

finished fourth in the race; but finished behind other championship contenders Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson; finishing the season third in points. In the Xfinity series he made one start. It came at COTA on the road course where he started ninth and finished second behind AJ Allmendinger. He made three starts in the Truck series; wheeling a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck. At Bristol he started 14th and came home in third. He had another good run at Darlington and finished fourth. His final start was at North Wilkesboro where he started fourth and finished 11th. He will be back at the controls of the #24 driving for HMS in 2024.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

WILLIAM McCOMAS BYRON II - 11/29/1997