After His Breakout Season, Will William Byron Fit the Jeff Gordon Mold or Will He Drop Off?

It is a tough job being a NASCAR Cup Series driver, and it becomes even harder if you are a Hendrick Motorsports driver. There’s always the pressure of keeping up with the sky-high expectations set by legends like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Moreover, in a scenario where two back-to-back championships have gone Team Penske’s way, HMS drivers like William Byron & Kyle Larson are expected to buckle up and deliver.

Both the #5 and #24 teams made it to the final four race in Phoenix but were unable to get HMS their 15th championship. While Larson conquered his peak back in 2021 for Byron, this was a disheartening defeat in what was his breakthrough season. Moreover, he was just not able to compete with both Larson and Ryan Blaney on the final stretch of the race at Phoenix.

NASCAR has often seen drivers end one year on a high and come crashing down the next. Seeing how Byron dished out his career-best showings last season, what do you think the 2024 season has in store for him? Will he continue on his growth trajectory from last year? Or will he suffer a similar fate to that of some regular drivers?

William Byron has the makings of a championship driver

William Byron is not an average driver. He learned the trick of the trade not with go-karts or on dirt tracks, but on a simulator. Hence, he has a different lens on the track compared to other drivers. Since his debut for HMS, the 26-year-old has always grown steadily, but the last year in particular was special for him. Winning 6 races and reaching the season finale, he finally was living his NASCAR dream.

However, will he be able to imitate his last year’s success going into the 2024 season? According to Jordan Bianchi from The Athletic, the answer would be yes.

Explaining his reasoning, Bianchi, while speaking on the Dirty Mo Media show, said, “I did the pre-season rankings on Athletic, I had Larson No.1 and Byron No.2 and I think that’s great. The only little question I have for William Byron is. We’ve seen this from a lot of drivers. They have that one great giant year and they don’t always follow it up. Because it’s really hard for a lot of reasons.

Stating Kyle Larson to be an example of this, he continued, “I’m not saying that’s gonna happen with William Byron, but it just sounded something to watch is how do you follow up the success? It’s not going to come easy but the thing is as greater years they had last year, they could have been even better. We’ve talked about that they left some wins on the table but I do feel the #5 and #24 teams are going to be great this year.”

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Sadly for HMS, Chevrolet will be back with the same car as last season while Ford and Toyota have made sizeable upgrades. So how big of a problem statement will this be for HMS this season?

Not having a new Chevrolet race car is not a concern for HMS

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Ford will be brandishing its new Mustang Dark Horse for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series. Joining them will be the Toyota contingent with their  Toyota Camry XSE. Interestingly, Chevrolet has decided to go with their tried and tested Camaro Z1. In theory, it may sound like they are losing out against the competition. However, Jordan Bianchi was of the opinion that despite them not rolling out a new race car, the talent pool at HMS is well-equipped to bring home the silverware.

“So I’m just kind of assuming that Hendrick is Hendrick, they do a really good job of always staying in the mix and staying competitive. They have such a smart talent pool over there to lean on. Yeah, they don’t have the newest car but it’s not like they’re just going to throw their hands up. No there’s some really smart guys over there and let’s be honest, their drivers are damn talented.”

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If not this year, William Byron, at 26, will have plenty more shots at the championship. However, this thought is not going to stop him from giving his all, in the hope of etching his name in NASCAR’s history, just like Jeff Gordon.