Liberty student William Byron ends best season of NASCAR Cup Series career in third place

After earning the pole position on Saturday for his first appearance in the Championship 4 — the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs — William Byron finished fourth overall in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, narrowly missing a shot at his first title at the end of his best season of his Cup Series career.

Byron, 25, who is pursuing a B.S. in Strategic Communication through Liberty University’s Online Programs, is in his sixth season of driving for HMS in NASCAR’s Cup Series. This is Byron’s 10th season with Liberty as one of his sponsors and Liberty served as primary sponsor for the No. 24 car for 13 of its 36 Cup Series races this season. Liberty will remain a primary sponsor for 12 more events in each successive season through 2026.

Byron’s fourth-place finish in the 312-lap race in Phoenix was his 15th top-five this season and his 21st top-10 showing.

“Proud of this team,” Byron said after the race. “We have had a great season, with a lot to be proud of. We’re going to keep digging hard.”

Ryan Blaney clinched his first Cup Series playoff championship for Team Penske with his runner-up finish; Ross Chastain was the overall race winner, but he was not one of the four drivers contending for the Cup Series championship.

Byron led the entire first stage for his series-best ninth stage win, and was in the lead for the championship through stage two. His 95 laps led gave him 1,016 for the season, the most in any year of his career.

Byron won a Cup Series-high six races in 2023, including the March 12 race at Phoenix in overtime. Sunday’s fourth-place finish was Byron’s seventh in the top 10 in 12 career starts at Phoenix, where HMS teammate Kyle Larson won the 2021 championship race to cap off a 10-win season. Through 10 playoff races, Byron averaged a sixth-place finish, which ranked him among the top five of all the drivers in the field, after he finished the regular season in first place in the Cup Series points standings.

“If you just look at the progression of William’s career, every year he just seems to get better and better,” HMS Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio last month. “Every year I see William’s confidence growing. This year, getting the first win early in the season, the confidence was there right away and it just continued throughout the whole season.”

Byron succeeded seven-time Cup Series champion Gordon in the No. 24 car for HMS and was named Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2018. He has qualified for the postseason every year since and qualified for his first Round of 8 last season.

“It took a while for the 24 to get back to prominence in the Cup Series, but it’s back now,” Byron said during this week’s pre-race press conference. “We are winning six races a year, hopefully, next year and the years to come … with a lot more (Championship) 4s.”

HMS team owner Rick Hendrick said Byron’s performance in the playoffs was a demonstration of the consistency he has shown throughout the season.

“He has got a drive and determination (and) you put him in the right spot, give him time and he’s going to develop into something special because he’s a special guy,” Hendrick said. “You think he’s a mild-mannered little guy, but he’s got a killer instinct. His determination to succeed, his willingness to work hard, and his willingness to put in the extra hours … his work ethic is so impressive. I just felt (when he signed him to race for HMS in 2018) if he was in the right spot with the right people, he was going to do great things. It’s turned out to be that way.”