“I know he’s going to represent it very well and I’m excited for the 24 guys,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon had said back in 2017, as William Byron took over the reigns of the #24—a number already forged into the history books by Gordon himself. So, naturally, as a four-time Cup Series champion himself, the VC had high hopes. However, after two consecutive years of heartbreak with Byron finishing third in the drivers’ standings, the organization is being forced to look within, it seems. Well, Byron is an exceptionally talented driver and there’s do doubt about it—he’s qualified for the playoffs ever year since 2019. But what exactly is going wrong then?

Despite NASCAR’s most successful team having all four drivers in the playoffs, the 26-year-old was the only one to progress into the Championship 4—Chase Elliott finished seventh, Alex Bowman finished ninth, and Kyle Larson finished sixth in the standings. Akin to last year, the No. 24 Chevy racer fell a little bit short in the Championship race at Phoenix behind Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Even though he put on a valiant effort at the 1-mile tri-oval, the talented racer was no match for both the Fords in the final race of the season.

While the outcome at Phoenix Raceway left much to be desired, Gordon made some honest confessions in a post-race conversation…

“I feel like we stepped up and did everything we could but for whatever reason, those guys, you know, have a little bit more,” Gordon said. Having qualified in 8th place, Byron had shown steady improvement as the race progressed, to finish fourth at the end of Stage 1 and 2, respectively. Acknowledging that didn’t have the speed or momentum to challenge the Team Penske cars, the retired Cup Series driver also talked about how Next Gen cars might be the reason behind their misfortunes.

Talking to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, he shared, “We’ll dig through the data, and try to understand. I mean you can see on SMT (SportsMEDIA Technology), you know, where their cars just turn a little bit better going to the throttle, and they (Team Penske) are able to maintain that. Our guys are saying that sometimes they’re tight, sometimes they’re loose, just don’t have the speed. So we got to figure out how to find the speed. What is this? Third year or fourth year with this car? So, you know, we’re kind of…our arms are a little bit tight behind our back of what we can go find.”

Notably, this comes weeks after the team’s star driver Kyle Larson had sounded off on Next Gen cars. Finishing at P13 at the Homestead-Miami Raceway after a flat tire sent him into the wall, damaging the No. 5 car, Larson had hit back, “These f***ing cars are stupid. How can you get a flat tire and be done … or you get a flat tire and wear out a little bit of your diffuser and your race is killed. Stupid.”

As for Byron, despite a great strategy call from his crew chief Rudy Fugle, it wasn’t meant to be. You see, in the race’s final stage, Fugle opted to stay out on the track when the rest of the field pitted. That meant when a caution flag was waved after Zane Smith’s crash right after Byron pitted, the other Championship 4 contenders pitted. Hence, the No. 24 had both track position and clean air for the final restart. But Logano did what Logano does, as he quickly bridged the gap taking the lead.

However, despite Byron falling back, Gordon didn’t have much to complain about: “If you look at, you know, his in-race behind-the-wheel experience and how fast he’s progressed, how fast he’s matured, you know, running for the championship last year, coming back this year. I just saw a huge step forward for him and the team. Man, they fought hard.”

Furthermore, giving credit where it’s due, Jeff Gordon said, “Even the short run of the #22 was pretty impressive. We just got beat today, it wasn’t our day.” However, the experience will be a valuable one, not just for William Byron but for Hendrick Motorsports as well, who will go into the off-season and analyze what improvements can be made for the 2025 season. Ultimately, both the Team Penske cars simply outperformed the 26-year-old, and there was very little he could do in the circumstances.

William Byron reflects on his result at Phoenix Raceway

Hendrick Motorsports had high hopes for the 2024 season. After all, the team completed 40 years in NASCAR and was hoping to mark the milestone with a Cup Series championship. The signs were looking good, as Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and William Byron were in contention for the Bill France Cup in the Round of Eight until the events at Martinsville Speedway left only one. With all hopes pinned on the No. 24 driver, the most successful team in the sport was eagerly waiting for a Byron masterclass.

Unfortunately, it was Team Penske who stole the show. Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney simply outclassed their competitors and finished first and second at Phoenix Raceway. Reflecting on what went wrong in the high-stakes race, William Byron said, “We were decent throughout the run but couldn’t really take off with a ton of speed, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. But they were on me a little bit quicker than I thought it would be. We just didn’t quite have enough. Those guys were just faster than us. We would have a short, little surge there in the middle part of the run, and then they would start to drive away on the short and long runs.”

Believing that he was never in contention for the championship, Byron showed humility in the post-race interview and went on to say, “They had the two best cars today, and it was really a battle between them throughout the day.” Such was their dominance that all William Byron could hope for was to capitalize on a mistake made by either driver, but it never happened. With experience playing a crucial role in winner-takes-all fixtures, Joey Logano prevailed as he has done so twice before, highlighting the gulf in performance between Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports.