FORT WORTH, Texas – JR Motorsports and rookie driver William Byron returns to Texas Motor Speedway for the My Bariatric Solutions 300 on Saturday, April 8, as driver of the No. 9 Axalta/Liberty University Chevrolet SS and the 20-year old driver has one thing on his mind.
He wants to win again at Texas Motor Speedway.
Byron, who notched seven NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins while racing a Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports last year, hopes to use his win at the Rattlesnake 400 last year to help parlay it into his first XFINITY Series victory. Byron and other XFINITY Series drivers will hit the track for the first time in practice on TMS’ newly repaved and re-profiled 1.5-mile oval on Friday, April 7 at 1:30 p.m.
“I am really looking forward to seeing what the new racetrack looks like and start the new chapter of the racetrack with the repave and seeing what it produces,” Byron said at TMS’ annual No Limits Media Day and Luncheon held Thursday at Gilley’s in Dallas. “We had a good race here last year with the win in June and hopefully we can carry some of that confidence into this year.”
Byron enters the race at TMS ranked second in the XFINITY Series point standings and trails teammate and points leader Elliott Sadler by 17 points. Byron’s other teammate Justin Allgaier is ranked third, giving Junior Motorsports a 1-2-3 occupation of the leaderboard.
“We have had some good runs lately and a couple of top fives to build on so we are looking forward to racing here in a couple of weeks,” said Byron, who has already recorded four top-10 finishes and one pole this season. “Elliott Sadler has been helping me so much like when we fly to the races. We are able to sit next to each other and talk about restarts or what happened at the last week’s race.”
Byron added, “Little things that make a big difference. Just knowing what to do inside the race car with switches and knowing how to get the best restarts and how to communicate with your team. All of those things are really helping me and Justin Allgaier has been a great resource. Michael Annett too. Those guys have been on their game too and it’s good to have a 1-2-3 lead in points as well.”
Byron said that an added bonus this season is having Dale Earnhardt Jr. as a team owner on board so he can turn to him for advice.
“He (Dale Jr.) is really involved in our team,” Byron said. “His personality is really cool to be around. It’s neat because I grew up watching him and now to be able to get to know him and talk with him in person. We talk about racing and other things.”
Byron, who is competing for the XFINITY Sunoco Rookie of the Year title, current leads the standings with 72 points, 17 ahead of Daniel Hemric.
“As a rookie you shouldn’t get the breaks that some of the other guys do so you have to really earn that and that is what I have noticed so far,” Byron said. “Trying to train and allow other guys to trust me and know that they can race around me without having an issue. Earning their respect is an important thing and once you do then you and your team will run and have better results.”
Byron added, “Every week is such a new challenge to every racetrack that we go to. It’s hard to remember what you did last week so you hope to write a few notes down and be able to absorb some of the stuff that we have done so far and that is helping me each week. Once you feel comfortable in the car you start having more success.”
Byron said he believes the new surface at Texas Motor Speedway, which now features the reduction of the banking in Turns 1 and 2 from 24 to 20 degrees, which is similar to Kentucky Speedway, a Speedway Motorsports Inc. sister track.
“I think the new surface is going to be more like Kentucky was last year,” Byron said. “I had success in the truck at Kentucky and I won that race. Hopefully it is kind of like that repave. I think judging off how the track looks, it looks like it doesn’t have a ton of grip like a normal repave.
“It’s going to produce some good racing. Hopefully the groove is two wide or something like that and you are able to race side-by-side. Hopefully it is a good race. Repaves are always pretty good races and everyone is on edge.”
Byron also said that he believes he has the talent, team and the car to get the victory at Texas Motor Speedway next weekend. When he won the Rattlesnake 400 last year he was the youngest driver to win a race at TMS, so he knows how special it is to win at the 1.5-mile speedway.
“To get the win at Texas is really cool,” Byron said. “It’s neat to win here and get the cowboy hat. Hopefully we can do that this year. I feel like we will have a good shot.”
