Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron has arguable been the most dominant and productive driver in the Nex-Gen era. He is the racer with the most wins since the start of the 2022 season with nine. The No:24 driver is also the driver with the most wins so far in the 2024 season with three victories including the Daytona 500.
William Byron‘s iconic win last weekend at Martinsville was another proof to claims that the young driver is the true successor to Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who won four tidies driving the No:24 Chevy for HMS. Now ex-rival of Gordon and the son of NASCAR legend Richard Petty , Kyle Petty has detailed how Byron has the same style as the HMS vice chairman.
Petty pointed out that like Gordon, the current No:24 driver is really insightful racer who has the capability to make suggestions to the team on where the car needs improvement so that they could run better. This was one of the main ability of Gordon that helped him to dethrone NASCAR greats such as Dale Earnhardt Sr.
He's [Byron] really insightful into where the team is and I think that shows that William Byron is a Jeff Gordon-style driver. William Byron is a guy that drives the car and then says ‘I think we can move the ball forward if we change this and we work this and we do this' that's the way Jeff Gordon was. Kyle Petty said.
Kyle Petty insists Willaim Byron still has a long to go to become like Jeff Gordon
Petty before giving the style verdict discussed some more similarities between the teacher Gordon and his student Byron. The eight-time race winner pointed out that the young driver speaks about the team and the sport like his mentor as doesn’t give any BS answers. But Petty asserted that he has a lot to do before getting to the level of his boss.
He speaks like Jeff Gordon. He talks about the team, he talks about the sport, he talks about what they can do the little things stuff like that. He doesn't give you these BS answers a lot of times, he may get to that point but he's not there right now. Kyle Petty said.
Byron is going all in for the championship this season. His composed approach to races so far this season has yield him three wins and if he can extend the form, at least two more wins are there for the taking in the regular season.
More must-reads: