NASCAR CUP SERIES: XFINITY 500

November 1, 2026

William Byron

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: William, last one came 35 races ago. What was different about how you executed this race, the car itself, just how you drove, that led to such a dominant win?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I wish the answer was more complicated. But honestly we went to the sim on Tuesday and said, Yeah, probably not going to change anything. We came here, Yep, we're going to get out there and do what we know how to do.

Yeah, keeping it simple I think. Having confidence that we've slowly gotten better at this place. Yeah, sometimes you put so much effort in and you try so many things. This week I think we were finally just resigned to the fact that there's two left, let's just do what we know how to do (smiling).

It's crazy how that works sometimes. Yeah, it was enough today. Just had a smooth weekend. We qualified pretty well. We didn't panic through practice. Made good adjustments. Had to chase the balance a little bit on Saturday. Yeah, just had a good strategy call by Rudy to do the one-stop there in stage one. Yeah, kind of got us in a good position.

Just feels really good.

THE MODERATOR: We'll begin with questions.

Q. 362 laps led. Do you feel this is the most put-together race of your career to this point?

WILLIAM BYRON: I don't know. I think there's been higher-pressure races and things.

For us, like I said, we're racers and we just go out there today and try to do what we know how to do. It was pretty simple. I wish it was that easy all the time.

We made it look easy. It wasn't easy. Every lap, every lap car we got to, everything was difficult. Yeah, we just put it together. I think honestly what sticks with me is just the fact that no one has quit on the team. I think everyone has continued to just keep putting in the effort, staying positive.

Yeah, it's been a tough road, for sure. This is really a sweet memory for us.

Q. How long has this year been for you?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yes, it's the hardest I've worked ever in my career. It's the most I've been at the shop, most I've been in the sim, most meetings we've had. Just has never, never stopped. You just kind of wake up every Sunday thinking, Man, all right, are we going to get it turned around today or what?

I think, yeah, today we just put together a really solid effort. Just didn't have any mistakes. Pit crew did a really good job. Just a good track for us. We just found a way.

Some good calls through the first stage to be on top of the one-stop strategy. Brandon and I have raced so many short tracks together. Rudy, as well. We've just raced a lot of short track races together where we just try to make it pretty simple, just try to keep the important things the main things.

Q. When you have a season like this, how does it challenge the relationship and the trust? You're not new to adversity, but how does this season test that?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, it's been a lot of adversity. I think we just continue to work hard. I mean, I think our work ethic has always been a thing that's kept us moving forward and progressing, always looking for the next thing.

Yeah, I'm just proud of that. I'm proud of the fact that no one quit. Just that we could continue to kind of put our heads together. Within the shop, too. It's easy to say from the outside, Oh, let's just put all the effort into one car.

I think for us it was never that way. We were just putting in all the effort we could. Every little thing. Like is there something I need to do different? Do we need to change something that we can maximize our day?

Yeah, we did all those little things.

Q. Presuming next week the 5 clinches, you've had a championship in the house before, had to balance being proud of those guys and happy for them, but also I'm sure there's other feelings, too. Do you feel pushed? Motivated? Frustrated?

WILLIAM BYRON: I don't think we can work any harder. It's just how do we work smarter in the future to be in that position.

We had some bad luck. At the same time, we got to continue to work on all the different racetracks, put some of the harder days when things aren't going well together, too.

Just been a trying year. I think this really is a good shot in the arm, something that we can look at and just be really proud of 'cause everyone, yeah, like I keep saying, kept their heads down. It's a really good weekend for us.

Q. What did your crew chief talk about heading into the last pit stop?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I mean, that was really good to see. I was thinking, Man, maybe I can just have a really easy run to the finish. He closed down to like a second there at one point.

I don't know if I was struggling that last run. I was just a little bit tighter than I wanted to be. At the same time, I had such a good run the run before. It's hard to really want to change anything.

I think we just kind of stuck to what we were doing there. Yeah, I was just trying to be really patient with lappers, try to pick through 'em.

I got a little bit stuck at one point. So just trying to make sure I managed all that really well.

Q. On the long green runs, how did your tires do? How did you drive the car to save the tires?

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, just takes everything. Takes a good car, good communication, good work through traffic. Yeah, I don't know if it was one thing that I did. I think it was a hundred things probably that I did, a hundred things that the team did with the car that we talked about through the week and weekend that all kind of makes that go around.

It looks really simple from the outside, but it's a lot of little details.

Q. What does today do as far as how you feel about this season?

WILLIAM BYRON: I think that's a tricky question. I think, yeah, it's been a tough year, like I said. We kind of just kept our heads down but kept kind of working. Things weren't really evolving or changing for us.

It's tough. We can't go back and redo those races. This definitely gives us that feeling that we know we can achieve. Honestly, like I know this group are winners. There's a lot to be said about going and winning a race every year. It's a really hard thing to do.

We wanted to do that. I wanted to do that. As soon as Darlington happened the way it did, I mean, looking back at the points, it's like just win the next race. It wasn't that simple. But I think, yeah, to finally get a win and be resilient and keep working shows something about our team.

Q. Asking Rudy about the final run, relaying the message of keeping calm over the radio, he said you're a duck to where you're calm on the surface but a lot going on underneath the surface. Is that an accurate assessment? What didn't we see in the final run?

WILLIAM BYRON: It depends. Depends what's going on. Definitely that's a good analogy for times, for sure. I'm a thinker. I'm methodical in a way, but at the same time I kind of know what things I need to focus on.

You have to be patient in some instances, but also impatient with, like, the situation going on around you. Some of the lap cars, the way that was going, I had to kind of start to press a little bit harder. Just trying to manage that.

Q. How important is it to end a season on a high note with consecutive top fives, maybe another win next week, when you're looking towards next year?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I mean, hopefully we can go to Homestead and run really well there, too. I think this is a good way to go into the off-season, off time. Like I said, I just wanted to win a race really bad.

It's tough to win in the Cup Series. You never want to get used to losing. That is a culture that you never want to shift, especially when you drive for the team we have, driving the 24 car. It's important that we can win races.

Yeah, it feels really good. I think just shows the effort we can put in.

Q. We were talking to your fellow crew chief Cliff the other day. He gave us an idea in the garage about how you've been probing all kinds of things. Have you found more balance in the car? Have you found some speed? Has the team dynamic kind of shifted? Have you had more focus on things following Mr. Hendrick saying let's buckle down and get this done?

WILLIAM BYRON: I mean, we've changed a thousand things.

Yeah, I mean, we've worked just to try to figure out how to get our race cars better. Yeah, I mean, there's some tracks we've been really off. Even this weekend, like, we unloaded, we weren't the balance we thought we'd have. It's been tricky. Been difficult, for sure.

Just keep our heads down and using our resources and putting our heads together, 'cause yeah, it's been tricky and difficult this year to hit everything at one time.

To answer your question, I mean, we've been putting all the resources into all the cars. Yeah, I mean, this is a good track for us and the 9. That showed.

Q. I believe this is your fourth Martinsville win. Fourth clock going to you. So many drivers fight to get one. Do you have a room full of these?

WILLIAM BYRON: They're kind of all spread out. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's a good thing. A good problem (smiling). I'll figure it out.

I think this is the first new one. That's kind of cool. Different make.

Q. What is it about this place that suits you?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, it's tough out there. Yeah, it's never good when you're running back here, you're hot, everything's not working right. The brakes are hot. Even when you're leading, you're managing.

But yeah, I feel like we found another gear here last fall. Really last year I think overall we were just better. I mean, that kind of dates back to 2022. We had a couple weak races in there that we kind of lost our way.

I think this car has just kind of been a chance for us to reset and be good here. I think anytime you get a lot of those laps up front where you kind of know what you're looking for, it helps, too.

Q. Are you aware of your winning streak dating back to 2020 and the importance of what it means to you to continue that?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I think you look at all the great drivers, great teams, they found a way to win a race every year. So yes, I'm aware. Just aware of the fact we haven't won in the calendar year. That to me is a big deal.

Whenever you start a season, the first goal is to win a race, the next goal is to win a championship, so on, or make the Playoffs, whatever. Traditionally it's been good for us because we start hot early, get a win early, kind of take that pressure off. This year was a grind.

Honestly, we had a few chances to win in the summer, but none like today where things were clicking like they were. That put a little pressure on us I think in the third stage just to make sure we didn't do anything wrong.

Yeah, it's been challenging. Just shows that we're capable.

Q. When it gets to this point and you expect to win, you have won every single year, how do you not finger-point, get frustrated with each other, let it go in a bad direction?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I think you just look at what you can do differently, focus internally, then kind of focus on every aspect after that.

For me it's like what could I do better, then what can we do better on the car. Yeah, there's been a lot of tough meetings. It's not been easy by any means.

Q. The second half of the race, the long run to the end was the longest green flag run we've had at Martinsville since 1987. How was it from inside the car? How mentally and physically taxing was it?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I mean, this time of year your body is pretty conditioned for it. There's definitely some lingering pain and issues that we all have. I'm sure everyone in the field has something.

Yeah, definitely you wake up a little bit more sore and there's just a few things that you just have to kind of be aware of.

I think, honestly, it's just nice because everyone out there in the Cup Series knows what they're doing. It's kind of nice to just get some running in. We've had a lot of cautions this year, a lot of people crashing into each other. I'm sure that's entertaining, but it gets kind of frustrating.

Q. This is your third win with Liberty as a primary sponsor. They are located in Virginia. Do you take pride in being able to represent a university, one that you studied online for?

WILLIAM BYRON: Yeah, I think I just appreciate all they've done for us over the years. Yeah, this is kind of a really good way to end the year with them. Yeah, it feels really good.

I think we won the 300th race with them on the car at Texas. I think that was our last win with them. That was kind of a few years ago.

Feels like we've been close in some other ones. Yeah, just means a lot. They have a lot of people coming out to this race. Going up to the suite before the race, seeing a lot of their leadership and their folks come out, it's a really big deal.

They treat this like a home race. I always feel that. I always feel like they're really passionate about this race.

THE MODERATOR: Congrats on the win.

WILLIAM BYRON: Thank you.