William Byron (racing driver)

William Byron

Byron at the 2015 Carneros 200
Born (1997-11-29) November 29, 1997
Charlotte, North Carolina
Achievements 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Champion
Awards 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
Car no., team No. 9 (JR Motorsports)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
24 races run over 2 years
2016 position 5th
Best finish 5th (2016)
First race 2015 Lucas Oil 150 (Phoenix)
Last race 2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
First win 2016 Toyota Tundra 250 (Kansas)
Last win 2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
7 15 3
Statistics current as of November 18, 2016.

William Byron (born November 29, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He won the 2015 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship.

Racing career

Byron became interested in racing when he was six years old after seeing a stock car race on television, later attending a race at Martinsville Speedway in 2006. He began racing on the iRacing simulator as a teenager, with over 100 wins and 298 top fives in online competition. In 2012, he and his father explored how Byron could start racing offline – in real cars. He started racing Legends that year at the age of 15, relatively late for modern drivers. That year he won 33 races and became the Legend Car Young Lions Division champion.[1][2][3][4]

For 2014, Byron signed with JR Motorsports late model program, in addition to continuing Legends competition. Byron competed in the No. 9 Liberty University Chevrolet at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina for JRM.[1][2][5] Byron scored a single victory and 11 top-five finishes, finishing second in points to teammate Josh Berry at Hickory.[5]

K&N Pro Series East

Byron was signed to drive in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for 2015 by HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks, with sponsorship from Liberty University.[6] Byron also continued racing late models for JR Motorsports.[1] In his debut K&N East in February at New Smyrna Speedway, Byron finished 7th.[7] Byron won the second race of the season at Greenville-Pickens Speedway after starting second and leading all 152 laps (two laps past the scheduled distance).[1] Byron made his ARCA Racing Series debut at Lucas Oil Raceway in July, driving the No. 55 Liberty University Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. Byron finished second after leading 120 laps. He scored four K&N East wins en route to winning the series championship.[8]

Camping World Truck Series

On October 29, 2015, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that Byron will run a full-time schedule in the team's No. 9 Toyota Tundra in the Camping World Truck Series during the 2016 season.[9] To prepare him for the run, KBM fielded the No. 9 for him in the 2015 Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.[10][11] Byron started the 2016 season on a low note crashing on the final lap at Daytona to finish 13th, and finishing 32nd at Atlanta after blowing an engine. Later, Byron would get his first top 3, 5, and 10 in the Truck Series after finishing a strong 3rd at Martinsville. Byron won his first Truck Series race at Kansas in May, after avoiding Ben Rhodes and Johnny Sauter's crash on the last lap of the race, and took his second race win in Texas in June. He won the next race at Iowa, finished 17th at Gateway due to a crash, and won yet again at Kentucky, propelling him to first in points. He followed that up with his fifth win of the season at Pocono Raceway, breaking the Camping World Truck Series record for most wins by a rookie. The previous mark was held by Kurt Busch during the 2000 season with four wins.[12] He won the first race of the Round of 8 at New Hampshire, but suffered an engine failure at the last race of the Round of 6 at Phoenix, which cost him the chance to join the Championship 4. With a win at the final race at Homestead, he placed fifth in the overall standings, with a total seven wins and eleven top 5s, and 16 top 10s in 23 races. William also won the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award. Despite not being in contention for the driver's championship, William's team Kyle Busch Motorsports still collected the owner's title for team No. 9

Xfinity Series

On August 18, 2016, Byron and Hendrick Motorsports announced they have signed a multi-year driver agreement, with Byron running full-time in the Xfinity Series driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in 2017.[13]

Personal life

Byron was born the youngest of two children in Charlotte, North Carolina.[7] He attended Charlotte Country Day School, while taking online classes through sponsor Liberty University, graduating in May 2016. Byron plans to attend the university after high school.[1][2][13] His parents, Bill and Dana, and his older sister, Kathryn, are his main sources of inspiration. Kathryn is a senior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Economics and is now pursuing a career in finance in New York City.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

ARCA Racing Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Williams, Deb. "From online to on-track competition, Byron quickly finds success". ThatsRacin. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Press Release (January 17, 2014). "JRM Adds William Byron to Late Model Program for 2014". jrmracing.com. Mooresville, North Carolina: JR Motorsports. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "From Virtual to Victory Lane, William Byron Takes the Jack in the Box Summer Shootout Series by Storm". charlottemotorspeedway.com. Charlotte Motor Speedway. June 19, 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Levine, Steven (April 14, 2015). "Get To Know William Byron". nascar.com. NASCAR Illustrated. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Driver: William Byron". jrmracing.com. JR Motorsports. 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Associated Press (December 11, 2014). "Ganassi and Harry Scott to field 1 Xfinity entry". USA Today. Charlotte, North Carolina. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  7. 1 2 "William Byron". NASCAR Home Tracks. NASCAR. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Utter, Jim (October 3, 2015). "William Byron is heading to Trucks after winning K&N East championship: For all practical purposes, William Byron's racing career is just getting started.". motorsport.com. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Utter, Jim (October 29, 2015). "Kyle Busch Motorsports' 2016 lineup to feature several newcomers". Motorsport.com. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  10. ↑ "ABREU, BYRON TO MAKE TRUCK DEBUTS AT PHOENIX". NASCAR. November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Byron Makes Truck Series Debut for KBM at Phoenix". Kyle Busch Motorsports. November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  12. ↑ Utter, Jim (July 30, 2016). "Rookie William Byron takes record-breaking fifth win". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  13. 1 2 Utter, Jim (August 18, 2016). "Hendrick Motorsports signs Truck star Byron to multi-year deal". Motorsport.com. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
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