“The spotlight’s on” - William Byron unfazed by latest NASCAR penalty as he strives to bounce back at Indy

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has presented challenges for William Byron due to its road-course layout in NASCAR Cup Series races.

In the upcoming Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, Byron, driving the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, will face a setback before the race even begins.

He will have to undergo a pass-through penalty on the lengthy pit road because his car failed the pre-qualifying inspection three times on Friday. Consequently, Byron wasn't allowed to qualify on Saturday and will start at the back of the 39-car field.

This penalty also means he'll be missing his car chief and pit-stall selection. The news about the penalty reached Byron while he was dealing with his hunger.

According to NASCAR.com, William Byron said, in an exclusive statement:

“I was really excited to get here to the track and then got that message and had to regroup. I think our competitors look at us to see what we’re going to do in these situations. So, I think it’s great. The spotlight’s on.

“I was actually going to get some Jimmy John’s, so I was going through the drive-thru and wasn’t the happiest customer. But it is what it is. It’s life and things happen, and we move on.”

William Byron's road-course struggles at Indianapolis

In 2021, William Byron secured the pole position for the inaugural Cup Series race on the Indianapolis road-course layout. However, his performance has deteriorated since then.

He has experienced disappointing results in the last two races at this venue, finishing below 30th place due to crashes.

Adding to the difficulties, last year's race weekend had a foreboding start when the No. 24 team's transport vehicle caught fire on the day of loading in. This led the crew to scramble before practice and qualifying.

Credits: Bob Pockrass

Despite these challenges, William Byron sees a minor silver lining in the current misfortune. He acknowledges that after serving his penalty, he will likely be racing independently on the track, separate from the main group of cars.

"I think it’d be kind of peaceful, right? I mean, just feels like I’m in the lead, but I’m not. It’s certainly not the circumstances that we wanted to have.

"We wanted to come in here, have a solid practice, qualifying, go into the race, but it is what’s happened and it’s unfortunate and we just have to try to be as efficient as we can to start the race, try to work our way through that, not make any mistakes on the pass-through."

Looking beyond the race weekend, the overall situation appears promising for William Byron. He is maintaining his position at the top of the Cup Series standings with four victories this season.

While the challenges he's currently facing aren't the ideal measure of his team's resilience, Byron expresses enthusiasm about witnessing how the No. 24 team bounces back from this setback.