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William Byron, winner of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, is the only driver left on Hendrick Motorsports whose contract has not been extended. Whereas, other drivers like Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott will drive for Hendricks after this season as well.
Kyle Petty, a retired NASCAR driver and current commentator, was recently featured on an episode of the NASCAR on NBC Podcast. He recalled a time when he spoke to Rick Hendrick about moving Byron to the Cup Series.
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Rick Hendrick promoted Byron to the Cup Series race in 2018 after he won the 2017 Xfinity Series championship. Although Petty was not happy with the move, despite that, the former driver praised him for his decision.
Afterwards, Hendrick called to ask for his thoughts on the decision, to which Petty said:
“I’m gonna give you the Richard Petty theory. If you’re gonna be a cup driver, go race cup, okay? That’s how you’re gonna learn. Learn to race against Kevin Harvick, learn to race against Kyle Busch.”
Further speaking about signing the young Byron, Petty said:
“Don’t spend all your time in the Xfinity Series or the Truck series winning championships or winning what you think is a lot of races. And then you have to move up, and then you have to go do that period at 28 or 29.”
William Byron’s NASCAR Cup Series wins
The Charlotte-born driver has a total of three Cup Series victories, with the latest coming last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
However, Byron got his first-ever taste of NASCAR's top series Victory Lane by winning the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in overtime in August 2021. The following year, the 24-year-old won his second race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leading 101 of the final 112 laps.
William Byron won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year award in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series. Byron collected four wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as a rookie driver in 2017 and lifted the championship title.
In 2017, he scored seven wins in the 2016 Camping World Trucks Series, setting a NASCAR record for first-time drivers.
