“Focusing on That Carrot Out in Front” – HMS Star Reveals They Have Changed the Focus Off of Their JGR War

The battle for first place in the regular season of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series is nearing its closing stages. Martin Truex Jr and William Byron are set to fight it out with only five races to go before the start of the playoffs. Fans would expect William Byron and Hendrick Motorsports to launch a massive offensive on Truex Jr, but that’s not how HMS are thinking.

In a recent interview, Byron said that while finishing first in the regular season would be a huge boost to him and the team, the goal, in the long run, is to win the Cup Series. The 25-year-old driver is only 43 points behind Truex Jr on the table but has more race wins than him.

Focusing on too much regular season will get us off-track, says William Byron

Asked if he and crew chief Rudy Fugle had any plans for the regular season championship, Byron iterated that they don’t want to go off track with regard to their real objective come at the end of the season. At 25, he is one of the youngest drivers on the grid and has already qualified for the playoffs thanks to his four race wins. Byron will become a first-time Cup Series champion if he makes it all the way to the title this season.

“Yeah, it’s really important, but we can’t get too focused on the result of the regular season points. We obviously want those points, but our process has been like it is to this point, and if we start focusing on that carrot out in front of us too much, it’s going to get us off-track. Yeah, we’re 30 points behind [Before the Richmond race] – all that is up for play and up for grabs. But for us, it’s just trying to do the same things every week that got us to this point,” Byron said, post-qualifying in Richmond.

“We had a 60-point penalty this time in the spring and we’ve crawled all the way back and took the point lead. We’ve just got to focus on trying to knock off results that are going to get us 40- to 50-point days. Those would be really good.”

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Fans Lay Into Hendrick Motorsports After Poor Richmond Performance

They might have a driver near the top of the Cup Series standings, but Hendrick Motorsports left Richmond scratching their heads. Chase Elliott finished the highest in 13th place, while William Byron could only manage a lowly 21st place. Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson finished 18th and 19th, respectively. 

Fans were upset with HMS’ performance and let their feelings known on Twitter as they commented their views under the team’s tweet about the race result.

One fan wrote, “Collectively awful,” while another wrote, “Missed the setup all around today.”

The tirade continued as another fan delivered a rather damning judgment, “How do you have a great practice and qualifying run then have a terrible race and consistently get worse throughout the race.”

Hendrick Motorsports will hope that Richmond was a one-off and get their act together before the next race. Kyle Larson and William Byron have already booked their playoff spots. Now it’s up to Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman to do the same. Do you think a driver from HMS will win the championship this season?

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