Despite midsummer slump, William Byron remains promising for Chicago Street Race

CHICAGO — The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet started the 2024 season in style, winning three of the first eight races.

William Byron won the Daytona 500 and at Circuit of the Americas five weeks later. Two weeks after COTA, Byron took home the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway, a milestone race for Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary.

With three wins and an average finish of 10th in the first 10 races, Byron looked like a championship favorite.

However, the next several weeks posed a challenge for their momentum. Late-race wrecks at Dover and Sonoma took Byron out of contention after seemingly strong efforts. He finished 33rd and 30th in each race.

Between wrecks and strategy not working out in their favor, Byron’s average finish in the last nine races has dropped to 17.4.

The team is in a midsummer slump, searching for a new groove. And Chicago may be just the ticket to turning things around.

Byron has a Top-5 finish in four of his last eight road course starts, including wins at Watkins Glen in 2023 and COTA in 2024.

In Chicago last year, Byron started 22nd and struggled in the first two stages. He fought hard through the wet and chaotic race to finish 13th. Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen won in his debut.

“[We] definitely have some work to do on the street courses to be as good as he is,” Byron said during a pre-race media availability. “It felt like Talladega nights, a guy just comes in and dominates.”

In last week’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, Byron qualified seventh and finished there in stage one. He ran a consistent race until late-race mayhem and a record five overtime restarts shuffled him back to 19th.

Entering the Chicago Street Race weekend, William Byron currently sits seventh in points. Byron is 94 points behind current points leader and teammate Kyle Larson. Byron currently has 16 playoff points, fourth overall.