Jeff Gordon’s former crew chief reveals his ‘empathetic’ feeling for William Byron’s costly pit stop at Darlington: “I made the same mistake”

By John Breeden

Modified Apr 08, 2025 16:22 GMT

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Daytona 500-Practice - Source: Imagn

Steve Letarte, retired crew chief for both Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Cup Series, felt William Byron's pain after a subpar pit stop at Darlington drained his chances at a dominant win. The driver of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led the first 243 laps of Sunday's race, but his pit crew couldn't keep him up front on the next-to-last pit stop of the race.

On the final cycle of green flag pit stops, Byron came out behind both Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell, ultimately dooming his chances at not only a win, but a chance to lead every lap of Sunday's 297-lap event. Byron finished second behind Denny Hamlin after another pit stop and a late-race restart shook things up at the front.

Letarte felt empathy for this year's Daytona 500 winner as he recalled making the same mistake when on the pit box for Jeff Gordon at Darlington. Similarly, Letarte recalls leading the race with the four-time champion behind the wheel until a pit stop cycled Greg Biffle to the front. With that mishap, the win slipped through their fingers.

"I was the crew chief for Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle running second. We rode and rode and rode and I let Biffle jump us to pit road. We came out from pit road behind him and we never passed him the rest of the day. So, when I talk about this mistake, I can talk about it with some empathy because I made the same mistake at the same racetrack," Steve Letarte said via NASCAR. (0:15 onwards)

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While the former crew chief showed sympathy for Byron, he remained adamant that the #24 team should've kept him up front. With the way NASCAR has evolved and advanced in technology, Letarte believes there's no excuse for why Byron's pit crew couldn't have executed a better pit stop.

"In today's world of engineering, there's no way that the 24 car can lose sight of both Reddick and Bell. He got passed by both cars on that pit cycle," Letarte added. (0:33 onwards)

Jeff Gordon said final green flag pit stop was the "game changer" for William Byron

Jeff Gordon knew that up until the final green flag pit stop of Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington, it was a historically dominant effort by William Byron and the #24 Hendrick Motorsports team. However, not coming away with the lead through the pit stop cycle turned their day around.

When speaking to Frontstretch following Sunday's checkered flag, the HMS vice chairman acknowledged how near-perfect Byron's race was. Unfortunately, the retired four-time champion could only think what could've been after taking home a runner-up finish.

"The green flag pit stops really switched things up, and that seemed to be the game changer," Jeff Gordon said. (0:30 onwards)

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Denny Hamlin drove to victory on Sunday to secure back-to-back wins in the Cup Series. Despite finishing second, Byron still holds the Cup Series points lead and is playoff eligible after winning this year's Daytona 500. He has four top fives and three stage wins this season.

About the author

John Breeden is a NASCAR content writer at Sportskeeda with over three years of sports journalism experience. His career began back in 2021, when he started writing for The Breeze - a student-run publication at James Madison University that covered a wide variety of collegiate sports. He graduated from JMU in May 2022 with a degree in media arts and design concentrating in journalism. He currently writes for his local publication, the Daily News-Record, in Harrisonburg, VA, where he covers a variety of sports at the high school and collegiate level.

John has been a lifelong NASCAR fan and has followed the sport closely since 2005. He stays informed on motorsports developments through social media, NASCAR.com, and NASCAR podcasts, which help him craft unique and engaging stories. Interviewing Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon at Martinsville Speedway was a career highlight for John, where he wrote about William Byron taking the famed No. 24 car back to the Championship 4.

Beyond motorsports, John enjoys writing about other sports such as football, baseball, and basketball. He believes that NASCAR could reach the global popularity of Formula 1 by expanding its audience with more international races and enhancing its mainstream appeal, just like F1 has done.

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Edited by Tushar Bahl