William Byron is entering his eighth season driving the No. 24 car full-time for Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. Of course, the No. 24 car is best known as being driven by NASCAR Hall of Famer and four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon, who drove his entire career for Hendrick Motorsports (1993-2015) and now serves as the racing team’s vice chairman.
What’s it like to shoulder the burden that’s driving such an iconic car? Well, Byron likened it to playing for an MLB team that has 27 World Series championships in the latest edition of “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.”
“I’m comfortable because it’s our own thing now,” Byron told host Kevin Harvick. It’s our own car. We made it our own, but I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. It’s like being on the [New York] Yankees. It’s just such a historic place. Driving the [No.] 24 car — it honestly has so much meaning. It just has the history, and you feel sort of responsibility to win. It never goes away. That pressure, I don’t know how it would feel in a different situation, but that pressure never goes away. I won my first race, I won my 12th race, [and] it just continues, so there’s always that expectation, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“I love driving there, and I feel like it’s a nice home for me.”
The 2025 NASCAR season kicks off Sunday with the Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app) at Daytona International Speedway, where Byron has had a great deal of success.
Of Byron’s 13 career wins on the NASCAR circuit, two have come at Daytona, including last season’s race. Meanwhile, Byron won four races in the Xfinity Series in 2017, with one of those wins coming at Daytona.
On Feb. 2, Byron finished 18th out of 23 drivers — there were multiple heats throughout the week to narrow the field — at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray, finishing a lap behind.
As for the last time that he was in a car with something on the line in the standings, Bryon finished third in total points (5,034) with three wins, 13 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 finishes last season.
As for the No. 24 car, Gordon left the Cup Series entirely after the 2016 season; he drove eight races in 2016 in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who suffered a concussion. Meanwhile, Gordon became the new NASCAR color commentator for FOX Sports in 2016 after announcing three Xfinity races in 2015. His stint with FOX Sports lasted through the middle of the 2021 season, when he left to assume his current position as vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.
Byron, 27, will start 11th in Thursday night’s Duel 1 at DAYTONA (7 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports app).
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